Monster Child
by CerapinTech
Summary: A woman and a child, hunted for something has hasn't happened yet. The Straw-Hats are pulled into an adventure where a certain man is out for the blood of a child who will one day become a monster and Luffy finds himself mixed up in the plot in more ways than he originally thought.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Smoke filled the night air, restricting the intake of anything clean into the deprived lungs of anyone unfortunate enough to still be around. The burning forest crackled and raged, casting unholy shadows of the lone surviving figure.

The man gasped, only to draw in more tainted air that burned his lungs. His beaten, bloody body collapsed to the ground as he seized into a coughing fit, trying to find some pocket of clean air. He writhed on the ground in his pain and tried to make his body obey his commands.

The fire grew more intense and he felt the prickle of heat eating away at the clothes on his back and burn into his flesh sending a new wave of agony through his core. The adrenaline flooded his veins and he stumbled to his feet, absolutely refusing to give into the desire of sleep. He threw himself through patches of burning bushes and through a sea of dry grass engulfed in the red flower before falling to his knees on the beach of the island.

He managed to crawl into the ocean, the salt water seething into his wounds while cooling the burns, making his entire body numb. He was barely conscious at this point, but when he looked out toward the sea, he saw a ship illuminated by the red fires behind him and the silver moon above.

He felt his hands clench at the wet sand beneath the waves as the ship sailed away and vowed to never forget that mark. Never forget the man who took everything away from him.

"I swear on the Shining Rocks," the man said with a hoarse voice and the taste of blood in his mouth. "I swear that I will not die until I erase your existence from this world. Monkey D. Luffy, you will die by my hand!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

" _Adventure, adventure, is waiting to be found. Adventure, adventure, is bound to be around._ "

The singing voice echoed off the canyon walls as the lone boy skipped along the path carved into the side, because Monkey D. Luffy was ready for another adventure.

His famous straw hat sat on his head and bobbed back and forth as Luffy swayed to the rhythm of his made up song. It was pretty good, if he did say so himself. Maybe he could be their crew's musician. No, that wouldn't work, he was the captain. Could he be both?

"Ugh, too much thinking," Luffy groaned and rubbed his head. His hand bumped his hat and a passing gust of wind whisked it away. "Agh! Hat! Wait up, I wanna go on an adventure too!"

Luffy's chase was cut short when the wind brought his hat out over the edge of the canyon and he watched as it settled on the canyon floor.

"Hey!" He called to the inanimate hat, "Is there an adventure down there?" The hat remained unresponsive, but Luffy nodded in understanding. "Right, I'll be right down!"

With a running leap, Luffy jumped clear off the canyon ledge and out into thin air. He laughed like a maniac as the wind rushed past his face and his stomach stayed behind on the cliff's ledge. Now _this_ is fun. The ground was coming up fast and Luffy looked for a handhold.

"There," he spotted a crack in the cliff face. "Now Gum Gum Tether!" His arm stretched out and caught hold of the crack, giving him enough time to slow his decent before he lightly stepped onto the canyon floor. He let go of the cliff face and his rubbery arm snapped back into place. "Whoo, that was fun!" Luffy grinned then bent over to pick up his hat.

"Which way now?" Luffy looked around, and laughed when his voiced echoed a lot better then it did up on the ledge. "Hello!"

"Hello . . . hello . . . _hello. . ._ " the canyon said back.

"He he he, so awesome!"

Then his adventure sense started tingling and he turned around. His eyes widened when he saw what every pirate knows is good starting point for a new adventure. . . a mystery cave.

"There's an adventure in here," Luffy said, seeing the cave with excitement. "I just know it."

He sets off at a run towards the cave with a stupid grin on his face and hope fluttering in his chest. Even from here, he can hear the sound of adventure coming from the cave. It sounded like foot steps and heavy breathing.

Then out of nowhere and completely unrelated to the adventure sounds, a lady comes barrelling out of the cave and crashes right into Luffy. Then both crash to the ground in a groaning heap as Luffy tries to figure out what just happened. Was the adventure already starting? He knew the mystery cave wouldn't fail him.

"Ouch," the lady said, rolling onto her side and clutching something to her chest.

"Hey lady, are you okay?" Luffy asked, as he picked himself up off the dusty canyon floor.

"I think so," the lady suddenly flinched and whipped around to face him. She was covered in dirt and dust and looked like a mess but she also looked like she was ready for a fight, or at least ready to run from one. She looked like a cornered animal, but after a moment of inspection she started to relax, as if realizing that this boy in front of her wasn't a threat.

It looked like she was about to say something when the adventure sounds started coming from the cave again, this time there was yelling and swearing to go with the footsteps and heavy breathing. The lady didn't seem to be as excited about the adventure sounds as Luffy though and she grabbed a hold of his arm and started dragging him away.

"Hey, what—" Luffy started

"Shush!" The lady demanded and pulled them both down behind a large outcropping of rocks, her bundle still pressed tightly against her chest.

The adventure sounds got louder and louder and Luffy peeked around the rocks and watched as two armed men burst out of the cave, looking around wildly.

Yep, definitely an adventure.

"Shit! Where'd she go?!" one of them yells and waves a gun around, trying to find something to shoot.

"She couldn't have gotten far!" the other said, squinting his eyes against the bright sun. He had a sword at his waist and a long metal barrel strapped to his back. "Go that way, I'll go this way."

The men were about to move again when a high pitched squeal echoed around the canyon, originating from the bundle in the lady's arms.

"No, no, no," the lady hushed the bundle, bouncing it up and down. "Shhhh."

Luffy leaned in curiously, and a smile spread across his face as he saw a little arm reaching for a butterfly. "Aw!" he laughed, "It's a baby!"

The lady pulled away, fear in her eyes, even as the insect flew away and the infant still cooed and giggled. But sudden gunshots quickly turned the laughter to tears.

"Come on out lady," one of the men called over the sound of the baby's wailing. his gun still smoking. "There's no where for you to go."

The other snickered, "Yeah, just hand over the kid and we'll even let you live."

The lady clenched her teeth and tried to calm the crying child, bouncing him in her arms and shushing him gently. She was, however, taken off guard when she saw the boy with the hat had gotten a little too close. She was about to pull away when he waved a finger in the child's face playfully, as if he didn't realize that there were two armed men only a few feet away. The child in her arms seemed to have forgotten the reason he was upset and was following the finger as it waved back and forth. After a moment of concentration, the child reached out slowly and wrapped his little hand around the much larger finger and smiled.

 _Honestly,_ the lady thought, _this kid doesn't have a sense of danger._

Then the boy with the hat was giggling along with the child. "Shi shi shi. I think he likes me." He wiggled the finger in the child's grasp and the kid reached up with the other hand and grabbed on too.

 _This guy doesn't have one either,_ the lady concluded.

Then there was a sharp _click_ and the boy suddenly tackled both her and the child, wrapping his arms impossibly around them. She barely had time to scream before the rocks they were hiding behind shattered in an ear piercing explosion. The force of the blast sent them flying farther then they should have, and the boy twisted around in mid-air so that when they crashed into the ground, he was on the bottom. Their combined momentum sent then sliding over the rocky ground before they slammed into another large rock. The lady felt the air rush out of her lungs but she managed to hold onto the child.

She opened her eyes slowly, and tried to regain the breath she'd lost. The rocks they had taken shelter behind were now nothing more than a pile of ruble and dust that littered the air. Through the haze of the dust, she could make out the figures of the two men, one of which had a long canon slung over one shoulder with residual smoke still leaking out the end from where the projectile had just been fired.

 _They just shot a cannon at me,_ the lady realized. _They just tried to kill me._ The realization of how deep she was in seemed to finally penetrate, and she started to shake. But through it, she kept her hold on the squirming child, who had once again started to scream and cry.

Something shifted underneath her and she remembered the boy with the hat. She felt his hold on them loosen and she rolled off. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, reaching out to shake him with one hand while the other held the child. The boy waved her hand away and picked himself up. One of his hands held down his hat while the other slapped the dust off his pants. There were little cuts with small streams of blood running down his arms and legs where the rocks had scratched, and she could only assume she looked the same. She checked on the child wrapped in cloth; he was crying, but seemed okay.

"So you managed to dodge it," the man with the canon smirked, his face coming into focus through the selling dust. "And you found a friend, how nice."

"We'll give you one last chance," the other man spoke up with a sickening smile. "Give us the kid and you can walk away."

She grew rigid where she stood, clenched her teeth and wrapped both arms around the child. Her head whipped up with an expression of pure rage and she screamed her answer. "Fuck you!"

Under the brim of his hat, Luffy grinned and took a step forward, putting himself between the woman and the two men.

"What are you—," the lady started, but stopped as Luffy raised his hand.

"That kid of yours is pretty cool," Luffy said, his back to her. "Let me take care of these guys. You just wait right there."

"What are you talking about?" The lady exclaimed. "They have guns and a canon! You saw what they just did to the rock we were hiding behind. Just run while you still can!"

"Not happening," Luffy said evenly, the smile never leaving his face. "I don't run from fights."

"Hiding behind some scrawny kid?" the guy with the canon said, leveling the weapon on Luffy. "Fine. We'll kill him, then we'll kill you. Or maybe we'll kill the kid first and let you watch."

The two men snickered and the smile fell from Luffy's face. He didn't like the sound of that. In face, he decided, he didn't very much like these guy's either. "Yosh!" Luffy nodded as he raised a fist, bracing the arm with the other hand. "I decided! I'm gonna kick your asses."

"Punk!" the cannon guy pressed the trigger with a click and the barrel exploded as another round was ejected.

"Now, Gum Gum," Luffy said as he took a deep breath and the lady screamed. "Balloon!"

The scream died in the lady's mouth and her jaw went slack as the boy's body inflated just like . . . well, just like a balloon. The child in her arms giggled at the display and reached out for the boy in his mirth.

The charge sunk into the boy's inflated body before bouncing off with an audible ' _boing'_ , right back at the two slack jawed men, only one of which had the sense to dive out of the way. The other one, the one weighed down by the cannon, only watched, rooted on the spot, even as the charge detonated at point blank range. The explosion went off and shards of metal flew around as the cannon was destroyed. When the dust and smoke cleared away, the cannon guy was laying on his back covered in cuts and burns and had a small stream of smoke coming from his still open mouth.

The lady watched in absolute shock as the boy's body deflated and he held both arms up and pumped them down to his sides, ready for the next round.

"Hee!" he smiled and turned back to the lady, making sure she hadn't been hit by any shrapnel, but was confused by her expression. "Something wrong?" he asked with a blank face.

"Y-your body," she stuttered.

"Oh, that," Luffy grinned again before hooking a finger in his mouth and pulling. The lady's eyes seemed to grow even wider as his face stretched in a way that human skin could not. "I ate the Gum Gum Fruit. Now I'm a rubber man."

"Devil Fruit?" the surviving man gasped out and coughed through the dust.

"Yep," Luffy said, "that's right." He took a step forward, bent his knees and raised his fist. "And now I'm gonna kick your ass too."

"Wai-, wai-, wai-, wait!" the man exclaimed, holding up his hands. "I never signed up for this. I'm just supposed to get the kid, not fight a Devil Fruit user!"

"You mean you're supposed to kill him!" the lady spat, hold the child close. The baby's head poked out of the bundle and was watching the exchange with wide eyes.

"Well that's pretty rude," Luffy frowned. "What'd a little baby ever do to you?"

"It's not what he _has_ done," the man said ominously, "but what he _will_ do."

Luffy stared at him for a moment, and the canyon was silent. Even the baby had stopped his crying. ". . . You're pretty dumb."

"The hell'd that come from?!" the man exclaimed with shark teeth.

"You can't kill someone because of something they haven't even done yet," Luffy scoffed.

"What if you knew what they were going to do? What they were capable of?" the man said.

"You're stupid," Luffy said.

"Again!" the man exclaimed.

"It's just a little baby," Luffy said. " _He_ doesn't even know what he's going to do."

"Well, let me tell you," the man said. "That child is going to grow up to be a monster." The man's eyes grew a crazed look as he worked himself up and tried to reason with the kid with the Devil's power. "He'll terrorize the seas and wreak havoc on the World Government. He'll be feared throughout the world as the man who—"

The man was suddenly cut off from his rant by the rubbery fist slamming into his face. He flew backwards with a sickening crunch as his face caved in before smashing against the canyon wall. Luffy's arm retracted with a snap and the lady managed to contain her scream at the display of his unnatural power.

"Had just about enough of that," Luffy said, swinging his arm around. He turned back to the lady as the man fell to the ground, leaving a human-shaped impression in the rock face. "Man, they were weak. I didn't even get a good warm up."

The lady stared at Luffy as he drew closer. The child in her arms squealed again as he drew near and the boy smiled and waved. He'd taken out those goons in seconds, when all she could do was run in fear from their weapons. The men who had hunted her, never giving her a moment of rest, and tried to kill the child she held so dear. . . defeated in a matter of seconds. Her face grew hot and her eyes prickled. The boy leaned down and stuck his face close to the child's, earning another fit of giggles. The boy laughed back until he glanced up at the woman.

"You're crying," he stated. "Something the matter?"

The lady shook her head in response. The child looked up an reached for her face. The little fingers brushed away some tears before bringing them down to marvel at the wetness. After a moment of inspection, he reached up and patted her face, looking for more tears to wet his curiosity. She huffed a chuckle at the child's antics before looking up at the boy that had saved her. No, saved _them_.

"Thank you," she said. "You're stronger than you look."

"Shi shi shi," he laughed. "I know."

"Does my hero have a name?" she asked with a hint of a smile.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy," the boy grinned, hands on his hips. She felt the blood drain from her face. "I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates."

"Monkey. . ." she trailed off, staring at the boy, then looking at the child. Then she glanced back up at the boy. "Of all the people. . ."

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head. "Something wrong?"

"No," the lady replied, feeling a little light headed. "It's just that. . . fate has a twisted sense of humor."

"Ha?" Luffy scrunched his face in confusion but dropped it as the lady swayed on her feet. "Oi!" He leapt forward and caught her before she hit the ground, trapping the child between the two of them. The child looked up at the lady and patted her face, then noticed that the lady wasn't responding. He patted her again, but still she didn't move. Luffy watched as the child's bottom lip poked out and trembled and his big eyes started to fill with tears. The child patted the lady's face and the tears started falling, accompanied by the pure sound of the young child's wail as he started to cry.

Luffy carefully laid the lady on the ground, and the child sat on her chest, occasionally patting her face and continued to cry when she didn't wake up. Luffy crouched next to the pair, not sure what he should do. The lady didn't look like she got hurt, maybe she was hungry. But Luffy didn't have any food to share with her, not even a little bit.

After a moment (a short moment) of thinking that started to hurt his brain, he leaned over the lady and also started patting her cheek, although a little harder than the child.

"Hey," Luffy said, leaning over her. "Hey lady, wake up."

She moaned a little and turned her head away from his touch, but didn't wake up. Luffy took it as a good sign. Maybe she was just sleepy?

"Weird place to take a nap," Luffy observed, casting his gaze over to the two unconscious men whose asses he'd just kicked.

Maybe he should bring her to Chopper, he'd know what was wrong with her. And Sanji could make her something to eat, because whenever something was wrong, a good helping of meat always made everything better.

He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down at the child. His eyes were still filled with big fat tears and his lower lip trembled.

"Hey there buddy," Luffy said, picking up the child and holding him at arms length. "You're a man right? Then you can't go crying over everything. One day you'll be all grown up and it'll be _your_ job to protect her, not the other way around. But until then, I can lend a hand." Luffy grinned at the child before placing him behind his head, and hooking his little feet over his shoulders, letting his precious hat hang from the string around his neck. The child grabbed handfuls of hair as black as his own to try and regain his balance. Then he started pulling the hair and was amazed when the scalp stretched under his grip before snapping back into place.

So, with the woman cradled in his arms and the child managing to keep his grip on his hair, Luffy started back to where he thought his ship was with a grin on his face.

"I knew the mystery cave wouldn't let me down," he told the kid as a section of his scalp snapped back into place, earning a delighted giggle from the kid. " _Adventure, adventure, is waiting to be found. Adventure, adventure, is bound to be around._ "

Meanwhile, behind him one of the men managed to make his body respond for long enough to fish out the transponder snail in his pocket. After a moment of trying to make his fingers work and dialing the correct number, he managed to get through.

 _"Is it done? Is the kid dead?_ " the voice on the other end of the line asked.

"We ran into some trouble," the man replied.

" _Idiot! How hard is it to kill a little brat and one woman?!"_

"It's not that," the man insisted. "We had her cornered, but then this other guy came out of no where. Sir, he had Devil Fruit powers. There was nothing we could do."

" _Fool! This is the Grand Line, there are Devil Fruit users all over the place. If you can't even handle a small hiccup like this, why did I even bother sending you morons?"_

"Please, sir," the man begged. "We can still do this. Give us another chance."

 _"Then you'd better hurry,_ " the voice growled. _"If you wait too long she'll jump ship and we'll have to look for her all over again."_

"You can count on us, sir," the man said.

 _"I'm not holding my breath,"_ the voice grumbled and the line disconnected.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N** : I have re-posted this chapter to add in Brook. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to add him in this fic, but I realized I can come up with some good fluffy parts for him. So here he is. This message will be repeated in the next chapter also.

* * *

Chapter 2

It was around mid-day when Usopp returned to the ship with a new supply of gun powder and a bag full of trinkets and spare parts. They had docked early that morning and everyone had gone their own separate ways, some a little faster than others. Usopp thought back the moment when they turned their backs for a second and their captain had disappeared. Honestly, it didn't even really surprise them anymore, just exasperated them to no end.

Usopp shook the thought from his head and went back to dreaming about what he was going to make with all his new stuff. He'd even found something called a Froid Mineral that the locals used to keep perishables cold and he already had an idea on how to use it. So, it was with a mischievous grin that he climbed aboard the Sunny. But he'd barely had two minutes to himself before he heard someone calling.

"Oi! Anyone here?"  
"Luffy?" Usopp called back, coming out of the store room where he'd been putting away the barrels of gun powder. Luffy was already on the deck. "You're back early. Did you realize that—Holy crap! What is on your head?!" Usopp pointed to where a little creature had attached itself and was currently sucking on Luffy's hair, but Luffy didn't seem to mind.

"What are you talking about?" Luffy said, glancing upwards. "It's a baby."

"Where did it come from?" Usopp asked slowly, already dreading the consequences of the answer.

"The mystery cave," Luffy grinned and chuckled.

Usopp slapped his forehead and groaned. "Luffy, you cannot go around picking up random babies."  
"Why not?"

"Because that's kidnapping!"

"No it's not," Luffy replied with a frown.

"I'm pretty sure that when you take someone else's baby, it's called kidnapping!"

"How rude! I didn't take him! He came out of the mystery cave with the lady then I beat up a couple of guys and the lady decided it was nap time, so I came back here," Luffy finished his story with huff that was emphasized when the baby on his head started screeching and shoving a new wad of Luffy's hair into it's mouth.

"You just left the mother there!?" Usopp exclaimed.

"Give me some credit Usopp. I'm not that dumb."

"Then where is she?"

"Right over there," Luffy pointed.

"She's here?!" Usopp exclaimed and looked over at the swing tree and saw a woman with messy blond hair slumped against the trunk. She was covered in dirt and dust and looked like she hadn't had a change of clothes in weeks.

"I thought you said she was taking a nap," Usopp said as he crouched beside the unresponsive lady, concerned.

"She did," Luffy said. "We were talking then she just fell asleep. She hasn't woken up yet though, so don't be too loud." He finished in a half whisper.

"She didn't take a nap, she passed out!" Usopp yelled.

"Oh, is that what happened?" Luffy started laughing. "I thought she was just sleepy."

The baby giggled and pulled at Luffy's hair. The scalp stretched and snapped back into place when the kid let go and the baby lost himself in a fit of laughter again.

Usopp sighed and turned back to the woman passed out in front of him, taking in the stress lines around her brows and the darkened skin under her eyes. "Well, she does look exhausted." He turned to Luffy who was jumping up and down, bounding the kid on his shoulders. "Let's move her into the infirmary for now. Chopper can take a look at her when he gets back."

"Kay," Luffy smiled and his scalp snapped again.

 **Oo-oO**

 _"I know their type and they won't stop until they get what they want; until he's dead."  
"But he hadn't done anything!"_

 _"Doesn't matter. His parentage would be enough for anyone to want him dead. But if what they're saying is true, then this boy, my child, will do great things. He will challenge the world power and bring about a change that will shatter the foundation that this government was built on."_

 _"Come on, we both know that's not why you're asking me to do this."_

 _"Perhaps not."_

 _"I'll protect him. You don't have to worry."_

 _"You are a brave woman. I don't deserve your loyalty."_

 _"No, ya don't. But I've been stuck with you too long to leave you hanging, so I'll just add this one to your tab."_

 _"I will pay that back."_

 _"No you won't. Goodbye, my friend."_

 _"We will meet again."_

 _"Of course."_

 **Oo-oO**

The dream started to fade with a soft brush on her forehead and a gently prodding touch. Voices conversed in low tones and the ground seemed to rock hypnotically and had her wishing it would never stop. She tried to remember what she had been doing, why it seemed so important . . . something to do with Luffy.

She bolted up in a panic, "Luffy!"

"Ahh!" someone screamed.

Her head whipped around and she found herself unable to comprehend what she saw. It was a little furry creature wearing a pink top hat, plastered to the wall with an expression of pure terror on his face.

She stared at the creature . . . the creature stared back.

She tilted her head. . . the creature tilted its head.

She blinked . . . the creature blinked.

The strange creature aside, her eyes wandered and she took in the room, the bed, the shelves with little vials . . . and the lack of a SMALL CHILD SHE HAD SWORN TO PROTECT!

"Shit!" she swore and swung her legs off the bed.

"Ah! Don't try to get up too fast," a young voice said, and the woman froze. Then she slowly turned her head to look at the little creature who had unplastered itself from the wall and suddenly found herself light headed again.

"Oh geez," she said, sitting down on the bed again.

"Hey!" The door slammed open suddenly and the little creature screamed again. The light from outside was bright, but the lady made out the features of the boy standing in the doorway. "Did someone call my name? Oh hey, you're awake!"

It was the boy with the hat. The one who'd saved her.

Monkey D. Luffy.

"Don't just barge in there," another man, one with a long nose, said from behind Luffy. "Brook, you'd better stay outside. I think she's been freaked out enough for one day."

"I understand," someone else said from outside. "Ah! Could you inquire as to the colour of her panties?"

"Yeah right!" the long-nosed man yelled and the door closed as the man outside laughed manically.

"Yo ho ho ho ho ho~!"

A babbling giggle drew her attention upwards and she felt relief flood her heart as she saw the little baby on his shoulders. The baby squealed in delight when he saw her and stretched his arms in her direction.

"Oh, thank God," she breathed.

"Here ya go," Luffy sang, taking the child off his shoulders and holding him out to her.

"Hey, little buddy," she cooed as she wrapped her arms around his little body and held him close. The child, in turn, wrapped his little arms around her neck, grabbing fistfuls of hair, and leaned into her chest. "Oh baby. My little boy. Thank you. Thank you for keeping him safe." She smiled up at the boy with black hair, Luffy, and she felt tears of relief prick her eyes.

"Heh, no sweat," Luffy said, rubbing a finger under his nose. "Like I said before, kid's pretty cool. So, what's his name?"

"Lu-Luke," she stuttered and the baby reached up and patted her face for reassurance. She smiled down at him. "His name is Luke. And I'm Sarah."

"Hi," Luffy grinned. "Nice to meet cha."

"Come on guys, give her some space," the little furry creature said.

"Oh, it _is_ talking," the lady said, not sure whether to feel relieved that she hadn't been hearing things or if she should be a little scared that the thing was, in fact, talking.

"That's Chopper," Luffy said. "He's a talking reindeer."

"Reindeer," she repeated, unsure.

"Uh huh. And he's also the best doctor in the world!"

"Doctor?" the lady inspected the little creature again who he threw his arms behind his head and swung a leg back and forth.

"You stupid idiot," the creature smiled and started spinning. "Just because you say I'm the best doesn't make me happy or anything."

"A talking reindeer doctor," the lady summarized then moved her gaze back to Luffy, "and a man made out of rubber."

"Yep," Luffy pulled on his face and let it snap back to emphasize the point. "We've also got a guy who uses three swords and a navigator who can make clouds, we got a cyborg too. Oh! And Sanji makes the _best_ food in the whole entire world! Than there's Brook, he's a talking skeleton."

"Woah, woah, easy there," the other man with the long nose intervened before Luffy could go on. "You're gonna give her a heart attack."

"Skeleton?" she asked, light headed.

"Hey, Brook!" Luffy yelled. "Come in here!"

"You called for me?" the man she'd heard before peeked in through a crack in the door.

"Skeleton," she confirmed, her eyes growing wide. She bit her lips together to prevent the scream that was threatening to spill out.

"That's why I told you to stay outside," the long-nosed man scolded the talking skeleton.

"Yo ho ho ho," the skeleton laughed and bowed down to the lady. "My lady, may I see your panties?"

"Huh?"

"Get out!" the long-nosed man kicked the skeleton who flew into the wall. Luffy was clutching his stomach in laughter throughout the exchange, the smile never leaving his face.

"That's harsh!" the skeleton laughed again.

"Sorry, I know they're a little much," the reindeer doctor said.

"Oh no, that's okay," the lady assured him, feeling breathless. "It's just . . . wow. It seems like I've ended up with some interesting people."

"More like monsters," the long-nosed man mumbled. "But any who, why don't you tell us what happened. Luffy here tried to explain, but he doesn't make much sense half the time."

"But I already told you, Usopp," Luffy huffed. "I was out exploring then they lady and the baby came out of the mystery cave, then I beat up a couple of guys and the lady decided to take a nap!"

"That's not an explanation!" Usopp snapped back.

"It explains everything!" Luffy yelled back.

"Why don't you start from the beginning," the reindeer doctor suggested.

The lady blinked as the attention was directed back to her. She tried to quickly decide how much she should tell them; not the whole truth, that much was certain. Not yet at least. But if this really was Monkey D. Luffy. . . She glanced down at the child in her arms again.

The others gathered around, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the bed in anticipation of a story. After a moment of thought, she began her tale. "It started about two months ago. Two men came to our house with weapons."

"The same two guys from today?" Luffy asked.

"No," she shook her head. "Different. But most likely sent by the same person. They came for Lu. . . for Luke," she stuttered and her eyes started to look a little wet. "They banged loudly on the door and started yelling. When I didn't answer, they broke in and started breaking everything. I was hiding in the kitchen with Luke, in the pantry, but I knew that I couldn't stay there. They would have found us. Then I saw the cooking oil on the shelf. . . I couldn't think of anything else I could do."

"You don't mean . . ." Usopp trailed off.

"I started a fire," the lady nodded. "I could hear them yelling when they saw me running outside, but I didn't stop. I don't even know if those men managed to get out of the house."

"That's crazy," Usopp awed.

The woman sniffed before continuing, "I hid us in the forest for the next week. Then I found a ship that brought us to the next island."

"Hold on," Usopp held up his hands. "You survived a whole week in a forest with nothing? And a baby?"

"No, I was prepared," the lady said quietly. "I always knew that someone might come after him one day. That one day, someone might find us. So I was ready."

"But why would anyone come after a little baby?" Chopper asked with big eyes.

"Those guys from earlier," Luffy said seriously. "They said that he would grow up to be a monster."

"A monster!" Chopper shrieked, an image of a dark-haired baby with horns and a spikey tail breathing fire popped into his head. "Scary!"

"That's ridiculous," Usopp said, his legs trembling a bit. "It's not like it's some demon child, spawned in the deepest parts of hell that will one day awaken and feast on the pain and suffering of every living thing on the planet!? . . . Right?" he finished meekly after successfully managing to freak himself out.

"Ahh! How frightening!" Brook shivered.

The lady chuckled at their antics. "I can assure you that he is a normal, human child."

"No demons?"

"No thirst for blood either," the lady assured him and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then why call him a monster?" Chopper asked, now relieved.

The woman's face fell. "They fear what he will do once he grows up." She gazed down at the child. He was grasping a chunk of her hair and was sucking on it and half of his fist with eyes half shut, and falling fast. The image of content.

"That's ridiculous," Usopp said. "You can't know what the kid's gonna do with his life."

"That's what I said," Luffy agreed, "right before I kicked their asses."

"Regardless of whether they're right or wrong," she continued, "they won't stop. This is the third island they've chased us to since they first found us, and it looks like I'm gonna have to keep moving."

"Wow. I must say, it's very admirable and amazing what you've done," Brook said. "Managing to stay away for so long."

"What about the father?" Chopper asked. "Can't he help protect Luke?"

The lady smiled fondly at the mention of the man but then she sighed. "His father is partially the reason we're in this mess. He had his own enemies, quite a few actually, and they'd all love to hurt him _and_ his family. It's best he stays away."

"So what," Usopp said, standing up. "You're left on your own to raise your kid and run from a group of guys trying to kill you for the rest of your life?!"

"Only until I can figure something out," the lady said softly, balling a hand into a fist. The Straw-Hats exchanged confused looks before the lady continued. "If I can get L-Luke to his grandfather, he should be safe."

"Do you know where to find him?" Chopper asked.

The woman looked a little uncomfortable and fidgeted with the bed sheet. "That's kind of hard to answer."

"How so?"

"Well, I know where to find him," she said uneasily. "But I can't get there."

"Why not?" Luffy asked. "We can take you there."

"We can?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"Sure, why not?" Luffy asked. "She said so herself, those guys aren't gonna stop chasing them, so I say we help them out."

"I agree," Brook said, straightening up where he sat.

"I guess that makes sense," Chopper said, tilting his head.

"Alright then, it's decided!" Luffy said, jumping up. "Luke's mom, we're gonna help you out." His grin spread infectiously across his face.

"Hey, shouldn't we discuss this with the others?" Usopp interjected.

"Don't worry about it," Luffy said, waving his concerns away. "They won't mind."

"I appreciate the offer," the lady said, "but it's really not that simple."

"Good," Luffy said, his grin defied all laws of physics and got even bigger. "That just means it'll be more fun!"

Usopp sighed and turned to her, "You'd best just give it up. When he gets like this, there's no changing his mind."

"And you just go along with it?" she asked incredulously.

"Well," Usopp said with a wink, "he is that captain."

"He's a captain?" she exclaimed, then she felt her gut drop as another question came to mind. "Captain of what?"

"Captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates," Usopp said proudly.

"Pirates . . ." she felt light headed again.

"Oops," Usopp said sheepishly. "Guess we forgot to mention that bit."


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N** : For those tuning back in, I would like to let you know that I have added a bit to the previous chapter. I wasn't sure whether I wanted Brook to be in this fic or not, but I decided that he would fit in nicely. There's not any major changes, just added him into a scene or two. So if you want to re-read it, go ahead. Otherwise, here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3

"Hey Usopp," Nami greeted as she stepped onto the lawn of the Thousand Sunny, placing her shopping bags in the grass, Robin doing the same beside her. It had been a good day of haggl—shopping. The island had a good deal to look through and most of it was rather unique than most of the other islands. She'd learned that this island only sold locally made stuff, and that only a few stores imported goods from outside their community. Robin had gotten into a few lengthy conversations with some of the locals about their culture and traditions while Nami attacked the poor merchants with her Discount Tempo.

"Ah, Miss. Nami, Miss. Robin," Brook said, peeking out from behind the mast. "Welcome back."

"Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Nami asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"You can say that," Usopp said with an expression that told her she wasn't gonna believe what he was about to say. "Luffy brought back a girl."

". . ."  
". . ."

"He WHAT?!" Nami's mind could not compute the thought of Luffy actually liking a girl, let alone bringing one back with him. . . Even more impossible was the fact that he had done so in only a couple hours.

"Calm down, it's not like that," Usopp said while Robin giggled behind Nami.

"Then what, pray tell, is it like?" Nami snapped back. "And where is that rubber idiot anyway?"

"The woman was being attacked by a couple of thugs and Luffy happened to be there. The woman passed out so he brought her back here. She's sleeping in the infirmary with Chopper right now."

"Seems like the Captain found his adventure," Robin commented with a smile.

"And the idiot?" Nami asked.

"He went back into town. Got bored of waiting for everyone. He brought the kid along with him."

"Kid? What kid?!"

"Oh boy," Usopp felt his afternoon going down hill.

 **Oo-oO**

"Anything else?" Franky asked as he set the last barrel on their overflowing cart.

"That's just about it," Sanji said, making sure their cargo was secure. "We should be good for perishables though. I also wanted to check out what local spices they have here."

"Ow! Cool bro," Franky smiled.

"If you want, you can bring all this back to the ship. Get Usopp or someone to help get the meat and eggs in the fridge and I'll put the rest away later."

"Gonna go enjoy the town are ya?"

"Something like that~" Sanji said, his eyes following a pair of young ladies that strode by.

Franky chuckled and started pushing the cart, "Super! See ya later then, bro."

"Yeah yeah," Sanji sang out, homing in on the ladies. "Oh, do my eyes deceive me or have I come face to face with not one, but _two_ goddesses! Fate smiles upon me today!"

Franky shook his head at the cook's antics and started his journey back to the pier. It wasn't long after that when he spotted a familiar straw hat bobbing along in the crowd. Or, more specifically, _over_ the crowd. But no one was freaking out about a magically floating hat. . .

He squinted through the crowd and saw what was really happening.

"Hey, Luffy," Franky called out. His captain stopped and started waving when he saw him.

"Hey Franky, is that food!? Can I have some!?" Luffy jumped toward the cart, but Franky caught him before he could inhale their supplies.

"You can eat later," Franky said. "But for now, what's up with the kid?"

"Oh, him?" Luffy said, tilting his head up toward little Luke, who was once again perched on his shoulders and on top of the child's head was Luffy's treasured hat. "I found him in the mystery cave. We're gonna help him and his mom find his grandpa, but she went to sleep and I got bored, so I came here."

"Right . . ." Franky drawled out, eyeing the kid. He was a cute little bugger. His big dark eyes looked around, taking everything in. A fistful of Luffy's hair was shoved in his mouth and the smile never left his face. "Well, I don't really get it, but I'm sure it'll work out."

"Right?" Luffy smiled then his gaze focussed on something behind Franky. His mouth dropped open and his eyes lit up with stars. "Holy crap, they have bronze statues!"

Franky barely had the time to blink before Luffy had run off screaming "Statue!" like a moron. He shook his head and silently hoped that their captain didn't get into too much trouble, or spend an outrageous amount of money on a hunk of bronze. On the bright side, it looked like Luffy found his adventure.

"Oh well," Franky pushed off and started back toward the pier. "Back to the Sunny. Maybe then someone will explain what's going on."

 **Oo-oO**

It was starting to get late and Zoro was pretty sure he should have gotten back to the pier by now. If only the buildings would stop moving around. . . oh well. He'd found a decent bar and was now strolling down the lively streets of the town with a bottle in hand and a back up tucked away. He took a swig and thought he could hear the stupid Swirly Cook's cat calls as he tried to sound impressive and cool in front of women, but always ended up looking like a jack ass.

Zoro rolled his eyes and corked the bottle. He kept walking, peeking into the stores that seemed to sell things unlike some of the bigger islands they had visited in the past. He stopped to look in the window of a store displaying a gourde jug that would be perfect for carrying around liquor. He was about to enter the store when the unmistakable roar of his captain, up to no good, rang into his ears.

"Where the hell's he been all this time?" Zoro asked to no one in particular before making his way in the direction where Luffy's voice came from. He rounded a corner and spotted his captain with his hands pressed up against the glass of a store with big golden stars in his eyes and drool dripping down his chin. Zoro rolled his eyes but stopped short when he saw a child sitting on Luffy shoulders and wearing Luffy's hat, mirroring the expression on Luffy's face, stars and drool and everything.

"The hell?" Zoro scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

But the confusion was replaced in an instant when he heard the unmistakable cock of a gun. He acted before he thought, drew a sword and lunged forward. The gunshot sent the pedestrians into a panic and running for cover. The window that Luffy was pressed up against shattered and broken glass rained down to the ground. Zoro stood between his captain and the attacker, his sword diverting the gun that had just been aimed, not at his captain, but the child.

"Zoro," Luffy said in surprise, then he focused on the thug with the gun. "You!"

"You know him?" Zoro asked, his face set in a scowl, glaring at the man who was now trembling under the gazes of the two pirates.

"Yeah," Luffy said, cracking his knuckles. "Kicked his ass earlier. Guess he didn't get the message."

"That only means we get to teach him all over again," Zoro said, drawing a second sword with a demonic smile. The thug felt himself lose control over his bladder.

Ten whole seconds later, Luffy and Zoro were walking down the street again leaving behind what was now a seriously messed up thug who didn't have an inch on his body that wasn't cut or bruised or hurting very, very badly.

"So who's the kid," Zoro asked like it was nothing new.

"This is Luke," Luffy smiled and the kid screeched and clapped his hands, the straw hat shifted on his too small head. "He's pretty cool."

"I'll take your word for it," Zoro said, grimacing as a glob of drool spilled from the kid's mouth and he started sucking on Luffy's hair again. "Why did that guy try to kill him?"

"Because he's gonna be a monster or something," Luffy explained, taking a bite out of a leg of meat that he didn't have a second ago.

"Is he now?" Zoro said, ignoring the cries behind him about disappearing food.

"So we're gonna help him and his mom find his grandpa," Luffy explained and started biting on the bone of the now meatless leg. "And Luke's mom said it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be so fun!"

"Looks like you've been busy," Zoro commented as Luffy dragged him from turning down a random alley that wasn't even in their path.

"Yeah, you can say that," Luffy said then stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait! I just remembered something important!"

"What is it?"

"They were selling bronze statues back there!"

Zoro face palmed.

"We have to go back!" Luffy screamed and started running back the way they'd come, the child giggling and hold on for dear life on top of his head.

Zoro sighed and set off after, making sure to follow the path of destruction and vanishing meals. After managing to get lost on the straight road, he found the store with the bronze statues. Zoro sighed at the broken front window, and walked in. The man who was working there looked a little overwhelmed, what with the broken window on top of the overenergetic Luffy darting from one piece of merchandise to the next, the stars in his eyes growing bigger with increasing size of each statue.

"Zoro! Zoro!" Luffy waved at him, "Isn't this just the most amazing, incredible, life changing place you've ever been in?"

"No," Zoro said deadpan.

Luffy giggled and turned back to the worker. "Hey, old guy. We'll take everything!"

"Moron!" Zoro yelled and smacked him. The kid started laughing and the straw hat fell over his face. Zoro glared at the kid. "Don't encourage him."

"Come on, Zoro," Luffy whined. "We need a great, big, bronze statue. It'll be perfect!"

The baby babbled his agreement. Zoro rubbed his face.

"How about this one," Luffy pointed to the biggest one in the shop. It was a dragon, standing ten feet tall, wings extended and frozen mid-roar, showing off a set of deadly teeth.

"There's no way we're getting that," Zoro scowled at the offending object. "How are we even supposed to get it back to the ship?"

"You're right," Luffy said thoughtfully, and tapped his chin with a finger. The kid on his shoulder copied his motion and examined the statue with thoughtful eye, if that was even possible for a baby. Then they both smiled and nodded at the same time. "It needs to be bigger! Hey, mister, where do you keep the twenty foot statues!"

"Luffy!"

"They're out back," the man pointed to the door at the back of the store.

"They make them that big?" Zoro fell over.

"Ha, ha," Luffy grinned and ran toward the door. "Wha hoo!" He held onto Luke's legs as the kid bounced on his shoulders and held onto Luffy's hair, laughing with excitement.

But right at the back of the store, Luffy stopped, frozen mid stride, staring at the row of shelves that lined the back wall. These shelves held smaller bronze statues, no more than figurines. Luffy stooped down in front of one of them, looking at another dragon statue. A baby dragon with more rounded spikes and smaller wings. Something about it seemed familiar, like he's had a toy like it once before, long ago . . .

"Gwah!" Luke called and reached out for the baby dragon over Luffy's head.

"That one, huh?" Luffy asked and smiled. "Well, it's kind of on the small side, but I guess it'll do." Luffy straightened up and turned back to the worker. "Hey, old guy, we'll take this one."

Zoro thought he heard the worker mumble something about not being _that_ old, but went over to wrap it up and Zoro heaved a sigh of relief. Luffy had somehow managed to get distracted and picked out something that wouldn't stick out like an ugly, sore thumb on the ship. Only on the Grand Line did things this weird ever happen. But Zoro wasn't about to question it, less he reminds Luffy of the allegedly twenty foot statues out back.

 **Oo-oO**

"Okay, looks like we're only missing Zoro and Luffy," Usopp said, counting off their crew that was gathered on the lawn of the ship.

"I swear," Nami huffed. "We leave him alone for two minutes and he's neck deep in trouble. No offence."

"Oh no," Sarah said, holding up her hand and waving away any concerns. "It's my fault, really."

"Doesn't seem like it," Franky said, "these guys sound like they mean business."

"Which is why we've got to find the old man before they find her," Usopp said, nodding. "Captain's orders."

"Naturally," Nami grumbled. "Oh well. We'll just have to make the best of it."

"If you don't mind me saying," Sarah said hesitantly. "You don't seem like the usual type of pirates."

"You noticed, did you?" Robin said.

"It's kind of hard not to," Sarah felt her face heat up a little.

"I guess you could say we're more about the adventure than the pillaging," Robin said with a smile. "You wouldn't believe some of the stories this bunch has to tell."

The door to the galley burst open and Sanji came sweeping out with a tray in each hand. He started passing out hot drinks, ladies first.

"Here you are, my beautiful Sarah," he smiled dashingly and she thanked him. He served Nami and Robin with just as much grace before dumping the other tray on the ground for the others to serve themselves.

"Man, where are those idiots?" Nami exclaimed, slamming her hands on the handrail and bore her gaze toward the town where the missing idiots were supposed to be. "Screw it, we'll start without them."

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked. "Shouldn't we at least wait for the Captain?"

"Believe me, he probably won't understand most of what's going to be said and probably wouldn't care either way," Nami responded, taking her seat in their little circle. "And Zoro could be wandering in circles for hours without getting anywhere. Either way, they won't care."

"If you say so," Sarah said uncertainly. She wrapped her hands around the warm mug in her hands, but the heat wasn't enough to warm her up. In all honesty, she was a little anxious in the absence of the baby and she couldn't help but worry about his safety. She clutched at her chest, where Luke would usually be nested in a swath of blankets and warmth, and the space left her feeling cold as she tried to compensate for this by wrapping her arm around herself and bringing the hot mug close.

Nami seemed to pick up on her anxiety. "Don't worry about the kid," she smiled and bumped her shoulder. "If he's with Luffy, he'll be fine. Luffy's strong, and from what you've said, these thugs are just small time punks who can barely hold up a sword or shoot straight."

"Yeah, you're right," Sarah smiled, but the nagging feeling didn't fade; these guys didn't always play fair. She knew that all too well.

"So, in summary," Nami said, bringing the meeting to order and filling in the crew that still weren't clear on what was going on. "We're taking Sarah and the kid to the grandfather, who'll be able to keep the kid safe from the guys who've been chasing him. The only problem seems to be the destination. Sarah, can you explain this further."

"As I told your captain," Sarah sighed. "It's not as simple as charting a course and setting sail. It's not a place you can get to by ship."

"As in, we'll have to walk or something?" Usopp said. "Oh, please don't tell me it's another Sky Island!"

"Eh," Brook wondered. "I've never been to a Sky Island before."

"Yeah, sounds interesting," Franky grinned.

"Sky—no," Sarah said. "It's hard to explain. Even harder to believe."

"Trust me," Nami said, smiling mischievously. "We've just about seen it all. At this point, I don't think there's anything we won't believe. This _is_ the Grand Line after all." Sarah looked around their circle and saw similar smiles and nods of agreement as they reflected on some of their more astonishing adventures. Heck, the astonishing faces among this crowd should be enough to convince her; cyborg, skeleton, reindeer doctor. . . among others.

"Why not?" She sighed in defeat and decided to be blunt. "The only way to reach Luke's grandfather is through a portal."

"Portal?"

"Yeah," Sarah said. "But it's not an ordinary portal."

"There are ordinary portals?" Sanji mumbled.

"It's a portal created from a mineral known as the Shining Rocks," Sarah explained. "When smashed together, they create a swirling portal to where ever you want to go. If I can create a portal with the Shining Rocks, I can get to Luke's grandfather, and this will all be over."

"Shining Rocks. . ." Robin put a knuckle to his chin as she racked her brain.

"Have you heard of it?" Nami asked her.

"It sounds familiar," Robin said. "But I can't quite place it."

"They're supposedly part of a religious custom in an isolated country in this area of the Grand Line," Sarah offered. "They're highly revered in their culture and seen as objects sent from the gods. I've been searching for the island where they're found, but there's so little known about it that I haven't been able to make much progress. I'm not even sure what the name of the island is."

"What else can you tell us?" Robin asked, trying to gather all the facts.

"From what I've managed to find," Sarah said. "The locals would create portals through a ritual that would give them one last glance of their lost loved ones, but the portal only stays open for a short amount of time."

"So the portal can connect to the land of the dead?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Scary!" Chopper screamed and clung to Usopp's leg.

"Ah! Not ghosts!" Brook shrieked.

"Says the skeleton!" Chopper and Usopp slapped the air.

"I'm not sure," Sarah said quickly, wondering if she'd told them too much. "This is just what I've heard. But I have traveled through one such portal, when I first went into hiding almost six months ago. It was more of an accident really, but amazing none the less.

"When the portal first opens, it glows with a brilliant blue before turning green, then yellow. It goes through the spectrum and once it turns purple, time runs out and the portal closes. So, if you want to return through the portal, you must do so before it turns purple. The cycle only lasts for about five minutes."

"How did you come across the portal if you don't even know where to find the Shining Rocks?" Robin asked.

"It wasn't like that," Sarah said. "I didn't make the portal. The man who's hunting Lu-Luke did. It was the day we first went into hiding. It was also the last time I saw Luke's father. I was traveling along a road after nightfall with Luke asleep in my arms when the portal opened up in front of me. Then a man with scars all over his face, burn marks, stepped out. He saw Luke in my arms and drew his weapon. He went to do his whole 'I'm evil, now die' rant, during which he mentioned how he created the portal with the Shining Rocks; it's how I know about them. While he was distracted by the sound of his own voice, I managed to take him by surprise and I tried to get the upper hand, but it didn't turn out so well. I wound up falling through the portal and ended up on an island I'd never even heard of before. Kind of freaked me out when I found out I'd managed to land myself on the Grand Line of all places."

"Where'd you originally come from?" Nami asked.

"The East Blue originally, but I'd been traveling around for quite a bit before, just seeing the world. But I'd never even considered going to the Grand Line. It's too much for someone like me. But here I am," she waved her arms out, gesturing to the chaotic environment she'd found herself trapped in. "I quickly figured out that I had to get stronger to get by. The island I'd first landed on was relatively peaceful with lots of kind people, they taught me a lot about fending for myself. But while they were kind, they knew precious little about the Shining Rocks. To collect more information, I would sometimes go down to the harbour and ask some of the travelers if they'd ever heard mention of them, but I quickly learned that it wasn't smart to talk to strangers if I wanted to stay hidden.

"I managed to get by. I settled down on the island for awhile and decided to wait it out for a bit. I'd grow a little stronger, then travel to other islands, learn a little more, and hopefully make my way to the island with the Shining Rocks and open a portal back to Uncle Ga—back to Luke's grandfather, where we can be safe. But, like I've said before, two months ago they found us and they haven't stopped chasing us since."  
"That's quite the tale," Brook said, sipping his tea loudly.

"Ow! You've had it so tough," Franky said, his arm pressed to his face. "Shut up! I'm not crying!"

"So, you see, this isn't your ordinary problem," Sarah said. "I appreciate your kindness, but I can't ask you to go through this much trouble for a stranger you just met."

There were a few groans, Sanji rubbed his temple, Nami huffed and Franky had lingering tears and snot running down his face. Sarah couldn't help but feel her gut drop. She hadn't expected them to want to help her after hearing about the arduous task—it was no small matter after all—but it still stung a little when it was confirmed.

"I guess there's no helping it," Usopp said, stretching his arms.

"Nothing we could do will convince him otherwise," Sanji said, lighting a new cigarette.

"How troublesome," Nami smirked.

"I really do appreciate your help," Sarah said standing. "But I will find my way eventually, so thank you for everything."

"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked.

"You can't think we'd just leave you out to dry like that," Nami said and Sarah's head snapped back up.

"Besides," Robin smiled. "After he hears a story like this, I don't think we'd be able to change the Captain's mind."

"He _did_ go off looking for an adventure," Sanji breathed, trails of smoke decorating the air. "Definitely found a doozy."

"Add in the threat of an organization hunting down a defenceless child and it just get's all the better," Usopp said exasperated.

"You mean. . ." Sarah trailed off, not daring to hope.

"I mean," Nami stood and poked her forehead. "That once Luffy hears about magic portals and the promise of a good fight, we won't be able to stop him. Honestly, he'd still want to go looking for these Shining Rocks even if you weren't tagging along."

"So, you're going to help us?" Sarah asked, incredulously.

"We'd never leave a lady in danger," Sanji said, also standing.

"I'm sure these Shining Rocks would fetch a good price," Nami smiled.

"Imagine the culture and history that these people have developed surrounding such a phenomenon," Robin lifted herself from her seat.

"It would be my pleasure to aid you in any way I can," Brook bowed at the waist.

"Ow! I'm in," Franky pointed a thumb at himself.

"Sounds like fun," Chopper giggled and hopped off his chair.

"Well," Usopp said, standing to join the others, "you'll need a brave warrior if you're gonna stand a chance."

"Know any good ones," Sanji chided.

"Hey!"

Sarah looked around at the group that had gathered with wonder. Never had she thought that such people existed. That with only a few words, they would pledge to protect her and help her in her seemingly impossible task. For months now, she hid with the threat of hunters hanging in the air, burdened with a small child that she would die to protect. And for her to find such people. . . It was unbelievable.

She felt her eyes grow moist with emotion.

And for these people to be serving under Monkey D. Luffy. . . Fate really did have a sense of humor.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Explain to me why we're doing this again," Zoro asked as he watched the group consisting of Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and the new woman playing in a circle with the brat.

"Because," Nami huffed. "There are guys out there who want to kill the kid and she needs help to find the Shinning Rocks to open a portal to the grandpa that's going to keep them safe."

"Hah," Zoro sighed and scratched his head. "Nothing's ever simple on this ship."

They watched as Luke played with the bronze baby dragon statue, running it up and down peoples' arms and legs and flying it through the sky. Nami wasn't sure what was more unbelievable; that there actually was a shop in town that sold bronze statues, or that Luffy had only come out with a little figurine and not a thirty-foot monster. Luffy had said something about how it reminded him of something he once had as a kid and that the dragon suited Luke the best.

"We've still got until tomorrow until the Log sets," Nami said, breaking her own train of thought, "so keep your eyes open in case those guys try something again."

"You'd think they'd have learnt their lesson the first time," Zoro huffed, remembering how fast the thug in the market went down. "Then again, he didn't seem too bright."

"Well, I don't think we'll have to worry about them too much," Nami stuck out her tongue. "Even if they do try something, it's not like they're going to succeed. Not with this crew."

 **Oo-oO**

Meanwhile, in a dark alley back in town two men covered head to toe in bandages make their next plan of action.

"What are we going to do? We failed again!"

"Who's 'we'? _You_ were the one who went off by yourself and got your ass kicked all over again."

"What was I supposed to do? You were still out cold."

"Yeah, cuz I was _hit by a canon!"_

"What should we do? Do we try going after the kid again?"

"You want to go up against a Devil Fruit user? Again?! It's bad enough we're in the Grand Line, but you're crazy if you think we stand a chance against that guy. And he's got other strong people with him, right?"

"Yeah. That swordsman was crazy. So, do we call the boss?"

"No, not yet. You've heard about what's happened to all the others who haven't been able to take out the kid, right? They all got burned! And I sure as hell ain't getting burned."

"So, we _are_ going to fight them?"

"No, you idiot! We're going to find someone else to do it for us, and while the pirates are busy with the muscle, we sneak on board and grab the kid. If we're lucky, we can play with the bitch a bit too."

"Ooo, I like the way you think, brother."

 **Oo-oO**

Usopp sat on the deck of the Sunny and strung a rubber band between his fingers. He held it out to Luke who was sitting between him, Luffy and Chopper, the little dragon statue on the ground in front of him. The child watched as Luffy demonstrated, pulling back rubber band before letting it go. The kid's eyes went wide as the rubber band snapped back into place, just like Luffy's scalp had done.

"Now be careful, little Luke," Usopp warned. "This is a dangerous weapon that has taken down some of the strongest pirate captains on the Grand Line. Behold! The Usopp Rubber Band of Doom!"

"Wow! Usopp, that's so cool!" Chopper exclaimed, his eyes shining bright.

Luke's eyes seemed to shine too as he gingerly reached out toward the dangerous weapon stretched between the sharp shooter's fingers. He wrapped little fingers around a strand and pulled back. The elastic snapped back into place and vibrated for a second before going still. Luke broke down into giggles that were soon mirrored by the pirates surrounding him.

Sarah watched from where she was seated with Robin and Nami as Luke snapped the rubber band again and again, falling into giggles every time. Luffy, Chopper and Usopp found the whole thing hilarious and would join the child in his laughter which would infectiously spread to any crew members who were in hearing range.

Sarah smiled when Luke pulled the rubber band a little too far and it snapped a little too hard. Usopp yanked his stinging fingers back howling as Luffy rolled around in the grass, holding his sides from laughter.

"It's not funny!" Usopp yelled. "I warned you, this is a dangerous weapon! I could have lost my entire hand! No, my whole ARM!"  
"What?!" Chopper exclaimed and held his face in horror. "You're whole arm! Doctor!"

"That's you," Usopp said, unimpressed.

"Oh yeah," Chopper said with a shocked expression.

"If it's such a dangerous weapon then maybe you shouldn't be letting a kid play with it," Nami called over.

"It's fine," Luffy said, smiling and rolling onto his stomach. "Luke's strong. He'll make a good pirate someday."

"Oi, Luffy, you can't just go and decide these things on your own," Usopp scolded. "It's not even your kid."

"I think he's going to be a pirate," Luffy said, crossing his arms and nodding sagely.

"What makes you say that?"

"My gut," Luffy punched his stomach.

Usopp groaned.

"Uh," Nami sighed and turned back to her company. "Just ignore them," she told Sarah. "They're just a bunch of idiots."

"Luke seems to be having fun," Sarah smiled. Luke had forgotten about the rubber band and had taken an interest in Chopper's antlers. He was currently hanging off them, yanking the young doctor's head at an uncomfortable angle and wouldn't let go. Now it was Usopp's turn to laugh and Luffy started to tickle the defenceless Chopper.

"Well, those guys are basically still children," Nami said, taking a sip of her fruity beverage. "So he fits right in."

Luffy picked up Luke and placed him on his shoulders again, then Usopp and Chopper started chasing them around the deck in an improvised game of tag, yelling and laughing the whole way. Two heads of messy black hair ran in circles, evading the pursuers, both with big grins on their faces and wide, bright eyes.

The women watched them play and dart from one end of the ship to the other. Luke often mimicking Luffy's expressions and copying his gestures. Over all, it was kind of cute.

"You know," Nami said with a thoughtful look. "Luke kind of looks like Luffy."

"You're right," Robin agreed, "They have the same smile." Robin didn't fail to notice the way Sarah seemed to freeze momentarily before placing her glass on the table.

Then the door to the galley banged open and Sanji came flaunting out, carrying trays of snacks.

"Oh, the deck looks so much more beautiful now that you're here, Mrs. Sarah!" He sang as he placed a platter of crackers topped with creams and bits of sausage on their table alongside their drinks. "I feel like the luckiest man in the world to be able to wait on _three_ gorgeous ladies at the same time! I only hope that your humble Sanji can live up to your hearts desires." He finished with a deep bow and a dashing smile. Sarah chuckled at his display and thanked him quietly.

"Oh! Food!" Luffy called out from the other side of the ship, the game forgotten. Sanji dumped the remaining platter of snacks on a low-lying table that he'd dubbed the 'kid's table'.

"It's for everyone," Sanji snapped as Luffy descended. "Don't hork it all down by yourself."

"Blah, blah, FOOD," Luffy's tongue hung out and Luke started to drool into Luffy's hair. Both wore similar expressions of excitement that only further emphasized Nami's point; they did look alike.

0.4 seconds later, Luffy and Luke were both stuffing their faces with whatever they could reach.

"They have the same appetite, too," Nami commented dryly, not sure if it was cute or gross, watching the kid grab cracker after cracker.

"Wow, look at him go," Usopp bent down to crouch beside Luke as the kid stuffed another cracker in his mouth, along with half his fist. "He can really pack it down."

"Huh," Sarah sighed and leaned over Luke. "What have I told you about eating too fast?" She pulled the food away from his reach, much to his displeasure. "Swallow," she commanded, holding the food away. Big wet eyes looked up at her and threatened to spill over, but she did not cave into his cuteness and he eventually swallowed the overflowing mouthful. She smiled down and placed a few more crackers in front of him. "This is just a snack. Supper is in a little while." The smile was back instantly and he started shoving in food just as fast as before. Sarah shook her head and retook her seat with the women.

"Wow! Sarah is so smart! Luke's so lucky to have a mother like you!" Sanji called, twirling around with a tray over his head and hearts in his eyes.

"Honestly," Nami scoffed, watching Luke inhale his food. "It's like he could be Luffy's kid."

"Now there's a frightening thought," Robin commented.

"Ha ha," Sarah chuckled, softly and settled to watch the boys eat with Usopp and Chopper trying to get their fill of snacks too.

 **Oo-oO**

The bar was dark and musty, despite the warm clean air just outside, but that was just how they liked it. It was a quiet place that didn't get too much other business and the perfect place for their headquarters. The Tiger Hunter Guild gathered here everyday while they searched for their next target. "Pirates, huh?" the guild leader raised an eye brow with an expression that was lost in the shadows of the dimly lit bar.

"That's right," the thug before him confirmed.

"They docked early this morning," his partner offered.

The leader scrutinized them both. They looked like they'd just been put through the blender. Were covered in bandages and sported bumps and bruises all over. Overall, they looked pretty sketchy, but a job's a job and a pirate's a pirate.

"What are their bounties?" the leader asked.

"Bounties?"

"Hey, come on now. You don't expect us to go after a group of pirates if they don't even have a single bounty."

"No, no. I'm sure they do. I'm sure I've seen that guy's face somewhere before, the one with the straw hat."

"You mean to tell me that Straw Hat Luffy is here!" the leader of the Tiger Hunter Guild was suddenly on his feat. Such a big bounty was here, at this small island? It was turning out to be a good day after all. He smiled and turned to his men scattered around the bar. "Men, we have our new targets! Prepare for the fight of your life. We attack with the setting sun!"

The group of bounty hunters cheered and followed their boss in making preparations for the coming attack, which oddly involved ordering another round for everyone since the payout was going to be good this time.

The two thugs left the bar quickly, leaving the rugged men to their pre-battle drinks.

"Are you sure this is going to work, brother? They don't seem very reliable."

"Relax. Even if they can't defeat the pirates, all they need to do is distract them. This is our last chance, if we don't pull this off—"

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da._

They thugs stopped dead in the empty street.

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da._

"Hey, are you gonna get that?"

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da._

"You should answer, or he's gonna know something's wrong."

His partner grimaced and pulled out the baby transponder snail.

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da—Ka-cha_

" _Oi, what the hell is wrong with you? Don't you even know how to answer the phone?"_

"Sorry boss," he responded, already feeling the sweat beading on his forehead. "We were ju—"

 _"Don't give me your pathetic excuses!"_

"Yes, boss. Sorry, boss."

" _Idiot. Now, is it done? Have you killed the kid?"_

"The preparations are almost done. By morning, it'll all be over."

" _You better not be talking bigger than you can handle. If you fail me again, you know what will happen."_

 _Ka-cha._

The silent threat lingered in the air and the line went dead. The snail fell asleep in the thug's hand that was visibly shaking.

"Is this gonna work, brother?"

"Of course it will," the thug put the snail away and turned back down the street. "It has to."

"I wish we'd never taken on this job."

"Me too, but it's too late to back out of it now. Let's just get into position. While the bounty hunters have the pirates distracted, we'll grab the kid. Maybe we'll even bring him back to the boss alive, so he can finish the brat himself. Maybe that'll earn us a nice bonus."

"I'd be happy just to get on with life."

 **Oo-oO**

"Come on, now," Sarah said as the sun started to disappear on the horizon. "Time for little boys to go to bed,"

"Aww," Luffy, Usopp and Chopper moaned. "Do we have to?"

"Not you, idiots!" Nami shouted.

"Yay!"

Sarah laughed and picked Luke up off the deck. The child patted her face and she kissed his forehead. Luke smiled back before grabbing a handful of hair and settling his head down on her shoulder.

"Idiots," Nami huffed and turned to Sarah. "You can set him up down in our room. Franky should be done by now."

"Done with what?" Sarah asked, tilting her head. Nami smiled and led the way to the women's quarters.

"Since we're going to have a baby on board for the next little bit, I figured it would be appropriate to make proper accommodations," Nami explained with a smile and swung open the door. "I asked Franky to whip something up."

"Ta da!"

"Oh, wow!" Sarah awed as Franky flourished his newest creation and Luke's eyes glowed bright with stars.

"I call it the Rocking Mecha Crib," Franky announced, stepping back and admiring his handy work. "Guaranteed to put any baby to sleep." In the few hours since he'd heard about Sarah's plea (which did _not_ have him sobbing), he'd gotten right to work. The Rocking Mecha Crib sat in the middle of the room, laced with bright red and flaming patterns and was mounted on giant wheels that slowly rocked the crib back and forth without a sound.

"This is amazing," Sarah said, running a hand over a fiery rail. "You made this all today?"

"Among other things," Franks grinned. "In addition to the rocking, this baby's equipped with night lights, noise makers, baby monitors and automatic temperature adjusters as well as defense mechanisms like heat guided missiles, bullet proof blankets and flame throwers!"

"De-defence . . ." Sarah trailed off, eyes growing wide.

"Hey, you didn't have to go over board like that," Nami scolded.

"I had a bit of extra time, so I installed an espresso machine too."

"A what!?"

There was a hissing followed by the sound of pooling liquid. They turned to see Luke in the crib, and a part of the rail had slid away to reveal the espresso machine that was currently filling up a small tea cup. Luke gingerly picked up the cup in a way that no one-year-old could and comically took a sip. After a moment of consideration, he gave Franky a thumb's up.

"That's not normal!" Nami exclaimed.

"Now, now," Sarah tried to calm her and pried the tea cup from Luke's hand. The last thing the kid needed was caffeine. "Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Franky. I really appreciate it."

"No sweat," Franky waved. "You should see the high chair."

"I think we've had quite enough for one night," Nami said, pushing the cyborg out of the room. "You should get some sleep too, Sarah. You look exhausted."

"It's been a long couple of months," she admitted. "I really can't thank you enough for your kindness."

"Would you stop that," Nami scowled playfully. "It's nothing, really."

Sarah smiled and thanked her again regardless. Nami bid her goodnight and closed the door. Luke settled down in his new fully armed crib, clutching his little dragon figure close as his eyes drifted shut. Sarah then settled down in the bed. She listened to the even breathing of her child only a few feet away, not even the excitement of the new crib would keep him up.

 _This has been an amazing day,_ she thought. _Who'd have thought that I'd run into_ him _of all people. Dragon, your son has grown up into a wonderful man. I can't help but feel a little proud._

Luke babbled in his sleep and patted his face. She reached over the rail of the crib and stroked the child's cheek until he quieted down and brought up the bronze dragon to suck on.

Slowly, and feeling safe for the first time in months, Sarah's eyes drifted closed and she fell into a deep sleep.

 **Oo-oO**

"Straw-Hat Luffy!" a gruff voice called from the pier as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"Hah?" Luffy rushed over to the Sunny's railing and leaned over. He saw a group of tough looking guys carrying all sorts of weapons and all had the same striped tattoos on their arms. The biggest one stood out front, carrying a large halberd and sporting a single shaft of hair near the back of his head that stuck straight up.

"My name is Rage Halbrak, the leader of the Tiger Hunter Guild," the big man yelled. "We've come for your bounty!"

"What's all the racket?" Zoro called from his spot underneath the swing tree.

"Bounty hunters," Luffy reported with a bored expression.

"Oh," Zoro's interest was peaked. "They look tough?"

"Kind of look drunk," Luffy said, inspecting the group sixty of so men, some of which were red in the face and others were already swaying back and forth. All had weapons.

"We're the biggest and baddest bounty hunter guild in this part of the Grand Line," Halbrak continued.

"You're the baddest?" Luffy cocked his head and crossed his arms. "Then you're not very good?"

"No you idiot! It means that we're so strong that we scare other bounty hunters away!" Halbrak yelled back.

"Sounds interesting," Zoro said, coming up beside his captain.

"Look," one of the cronies said. "It's Roronoa Zoro!"

"The pay out just went up," Halbrak grinned and drew his sword. "Get ready to fight! Straw-Hat!"

"Alright," Luffy said, jumping up on the rail. "You asked for it."

"Hey," Nami said, coming out on deck. "What's with all the noise?"

"It's a fight," Luffy said as he swung his arm around and grinned.

"Well try to keep it down," Nami scolded. "Luke and Sarah are trying to sleep."

"But Luke's mom already took a nap today," Luffy said.

"That wasn't a nap!" Nami yelled.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy laughed.

"What's wrong, pirate! Come down and fight!" the bounty hunter leader yelled at the delay.

"Did you want me to get the others?" Nami said, seeing the number of enemies lined up on the dock.

"We should be enough for this," Zoro said, drawing one of his blades.

"Let me at least get Sanji," Nami said and started towards the galley, only to have to door burst open before she's even taken two steps.

"I heard you call for me, my sweet!" he sang and knelt before her. "Whatever you wish, I shall fulfil it."

"We don't need some love-sick idiot," Zoro snapped.

"What was that, moss head?" Sanji said, his mood doing an immediate 180.

"You heard me, cook. Go back to your kitchen, we don't need you here."

"Really? In that case, I think I'll stick around after all." Sanji jumped up on the rail beside Luffy and tapped his toe on the wood. "I could always use some exercise."

"It's kind of loud out here," Usopp said, sticking his head out from the port hole in the deck. "Something happened."

"Bounty hunters," Luffy repeated as the noise on the pier started to increase as the hunters started getting impatient.

"Bounty hunters?" Brook came up from the back of the ship, "Sounds daunting."

The colour drained from Usopp's face. "Well than, I'll leave this to you," and he quickly shut the hatch.

"Yohohoho," Brook chuckled and raised his violin. "Do you wish for some assistance?"

"I think we should be alright," Luffy said.

"How about some music to energize you?"

"Yeah!" Luffy pumped a fist as Brook struck up a face paced rhythm.

"So what is it?" Franky asked as Usopp settled back down to work on his new thingy.

"Bounty hunters," Usopp repeated. "But Luffy, Zoro and Sanji got this one."

"I feel sorry for the bounty hunters," Franky smirked.

"Right?"

Outside, Brook and Nami watched as the three Straw-Hat power houses jumped off the railing to face the Tiger Hunter Guild.

"Finally decided to come down and fight us," Halbrak said, waving his halberd at the trio. "Or have you come to surrender quietly. We've got you outnumbered!"

"They don't seem like much," Sanji muttered.

"I say we make the most of what we've got," Zoro said, drawing two swords.

"The one who takes down the most wins," Sanji said, shifting his weight onto one leg.

"Sounds fun," Luffy chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

"—gret the day you were unfortunate enough to run into the Tiger Hunter Guild," Halbrak finished his rant that no one was listening to.

"Ready? GO!" Luffy shouted and lunged forward. "Gum Gum Gattling!" Fifteen men went down right off the bat and ten more were sent flying.

"Luffy!" Sanji scoffed.

"Hey, save some for me!" Zoro shouted.

"Too slow," Luffy grinned and his arm snapped back.

 **Oo-oO**

In the library, Robin heard the commotion and she looked up from her book.

"What was that?" Chopper asked from his position on the floor, a book on Pediatrics open in front of him.

Robin crossed her arms to take a look. "It seems like a fight," Robin reported with a smile, although something about it set off alarms in her head.

"Fight! Oh no!" Chopper exclaimed, jumping up. "What if they get hurt?!"

"They seem to be handling it quite well," Robin said. "It's simply a few bounty hunters."

"Oh, is that all?" Chopper said, swiping the back of his hoof over his forehead.

They both went back to their books, but after a moment or two, Robin couldn't quite shake the bad feeling she had. She closed her book. "I'll be right back," she told Chopper who nodded and turned the page without looking up.

She spotted Nami by the railing, watching as the Straw-Hat power houses worked through the bounty hunters, a few of which seemed to be more skilled than your ordinary gang of rif-rafts. Brook was nearby, spinning around and playing a face-paced song that got the blood pumping. There was no one else on the deck.

"Those guys don't know the meaning of restraint," Nami sighed as a couple of Tigers went flying into the air, caught in a massive twister. "I just hope they don't wake up Sarah. She looked so exhausted."

"I take it she's already gone to bed then," Robin said and crossed her arms over her chest again. An eye bloomed in the women's room and Robin watched as both mother and child slept soundly. "They haven't been woken." She reported and was about to release the eye when a sliver of light pierced the darkness of the room. "Wait. . ."

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were fighting, Nami, Brook and herself were up on the deck, Chopper was still in the library and she was pretty sure that Usopp and Franky were below deck. If everyone as accounted for, who was walking into the room?

The spying eye widened as a pair of men covered in bandages slunk into the room with crazed grins on their faces and blades drawn.

"No!" Robin yelled, startling Nami.

"What?" Nami gasped. "What is it?"

"Intruders!" Robin hissed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Fav, follow and most importantly, LEAVE A REVEIW!


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Alright, so I feel kind of bad for leaving you guys with a cliff hanger for so long. But exams and crap. Should be back to writing by the end of the week.

* * *

Chapter 5

 _A group of kids ran through the streets, laughing, playing and generally causing a ruckus. A larger girl with orange hair chased after a boy with a devilish grin and black hair, screaming profanities and threats as the boy taunted her and dashed down an alley._

 _"Come on," a curly haired boy urged a young Sarah. "We'll lose them."_

 _A scream came from the alley._

 _"Actually," young Sarah said, "I think we have to save Dragon. He knows better than to get her riled up."_

 _"He knows you'll come save him," the other boy grinned. "After all, you're the only one who can calm her down."_

 _"I should just let him get the snot beat out of him for once," Sarah sighed. "Maybe that will teach him a lesson."_

"It's almost too easy," an unknown voice pierced through her dream.

 _"Sarah," the black haired boy said from underneath the larger girl. "Get her off me!"_

 _"You're such an idiot," Sarah sighed._

Click. . . Hiss. . .

 _Wait a second_. _Something's not right._

A sense of panic ripped Sarah out of her dream and she opened her eyes in time to see a man with a large knife standing over her.

Then the room lit up with an orange light and an intense heat over road her senses. Someone screamed and she saw another man rolling on the ground as the Rocking Mecha Crib activated its flame throwers and attacked.

Luke started crying and the man standing by Sarah's bed cursed and struggled against his restraints; a pair of arms that had grown out of his back and were holding the man's knife hand.

It was chaos and Sarah wasn't sure what to make of it. There was fire and screaming and confusion, but one thought pierced through. Protect!

Sarah kicked the man with the knife, sending him smashing into the wall and dove for the crib, not caring whether the defences would activate again. She hauled the child out and he latched onto her as he screamed and cried.

Then the door slammed open, stopping some of the madness. The thug turned to see a man silhouetted by the last tinges of the setting sub. A very angry looking, Straw-Hatted man cracked his knuckles and glared at the thugs from under the brim of his hat.

The thug barely had a chance to think before a fist introduced him to the world of dreams.

 **Oo-oO**

"How is she?" Nami asked as Chopper came into the galley where the whole crew had gathered.

"She's calmed down and Luke's asleep again," Chopper reported, taking his seat at the table where the rest of the crew had gathered. "I think they're going to stay in the infirmary tonight, but I doubt Sarah's going to be sleeping at all . . ."

"That was too close," Usopp asked, leaning on the table.

"Apparently, the Tiger Hunters were the distraction for them to sneak in," Robin said. "It worked quite well. If it wasn't for the Rocking Mecha Crib, both Mrs. Sarah and Luke would be dead."

"Nice job on the defenses," Usopp said to Franky.

"I thought they'd be a Super idea," Franky grinned.

"It sounds so cool!" Luffy gushed. "I wanna see it!"

"Not now," Nami scolded. "We have more pressing things to discuss."

"Boring!" Luffy snapped and his chin fell onto the table.

"Nami's right," Sanji said. "This is the third time those thugs tried to kill dear Sarah _today_. If it's always been this relentless, it's no wonder she's so exhausted."

"Mrs. Sarah must be very strong to have endured such hardships," Brook commented as he sipped his tea cup.

"The log sets tomorrow," Nami said, holding out her wrist to show the still unstable needle. "As soon as it's ready, we'll set out. We should be safe once we hit the open sea, but for tonight and tomorrow, I want a double watch. Two people should be with Sarah and Luke at all times."

"That's great and all," Usopp piped up. "But we still don't know where we're going. We need to get to this Shinning Rock Island, right? We have no idea where it is, or even what it's real name is."

"We'll do reconnaissance tomorrow morning," Nami said. "Robin and Usopp, you guys can be in charge of that. See what you can find from the locals."

"I'll see what I can do," Robin said, "though from what Mrs. Sarah has told us, there isn't much to find."

"If not here, then the next island," Nami said and turned to the others. "Have we got all the supplies we need?"

"I've still got to pick up our Cola order," Franky said. "Guy at the shop said it'd be ready by noon."

"Sanji?"

"Yes, Nami my sweet!" Sanji sang. "We're all set to go on my end!"

"Anything else we're missing?" Nami asked.

"A silver statue," Luffy said.

"What happened to bronze," Usopp asked.

"Well, I got a bronze statue today, so now we need a silver one," Luffy said.

"No!" Nami smacked him. "Stay focussed!"

"So what are we going to do with our little guests?" Sanji asked, casting a look over to the corner of the room where the two thugs had been tied up, gagged and thrown. They had been trying to wiggle out of their bonds, but froze as the attention was drawn to them.

"We'll get to question them," Robin said, with an excited look in her eyes that had some of the others shivering and the thugs visibly shaken. "I wonder what method would be most effective?"

"Robin's scary," Chopper whimpered. The thugs nodded in agreement.

"Fine my me," Zoro smiled demonically. The thugs who started to sweat.

"Now, now," Nami said, standing up. "Why don't we give them a chance to talk first?" The thugs looked relieved. Robin looked disappointed. Nami crouched down in front of the two trembling men.

"Now, how about it?" she asked with a mischievous smile. "Are we feeling cooperative?"

The two men nodded frantically, seeing a chance for an easy escape. "See guys?" Nami turned back to the crew. Robin looked bored now and Zoro turned away with a 'Che'. Nami rolled her eyes and hooked a finger under one of the thugs' gags and ripped it down around his neck. "How about we start with an easy one? Who are you?"

"We-we're the Occlusal Brother," the thugs stuttered.

"Never heard of you," Nami sounded unimpressed.

"Sounds good," Luffy said. "Hey Sanji, make me some Okluma."

"We can't eat them," Sanji said. "Human meat is too tough, and there's not enough flavour."

"Hey, hey, how do you even know that," Usopp asked.

"We're originally from the West Blue," the thug answered quickly. "We do whatever job we're hired to do."

"Che, mercenaries," Franky scoffed.

"Even if it means hunting down a mother and her child?" Sanji ground down on his cigarette and loomed behind Nami.

"Who hired you?" Nami said, not waiting for the answer to a question they already knew the answer to.

"Caspien," he gasped as Sanji leaned in menacingly. "Broker Caspien."

"Never heard of him, either," Nami said. "Who is he? And what does he have against Luke and Sarah?"

"I-I don't know much about the man," the thug admitted and Nami frowned dangerously. "Th-the only thing he told us was that the kid was going to grow into a monster one day and terrorize the world."

"Yeah, we've heard that part already," Nami said with a scowl. "Ignoring the complete and utter nonsense that goes along with that statement, let's try that again. Why is this Caspien guy going so far as to hunt them down?"

"I-I really don't kn-know," the thug stuttered. "Apparently he's got a grudge or something, but that's just a rumour. I don't know if it's true."

"A grudge?" Usopp wondered. "Against who? He can't possibly hold a grudge against a kid."

"Maybe it's towards his father," Robin suggested. "Mrs. Sarah did say that he had many enemies."

"Do you know who the father is?" Nami asked.

"No. The only thing we got was a picture and a location where they were last spotted," the thug answered.

"What about the boss?" Nami asked. "Where is this Caspien guy?"

"I don—" he stopped mid-word at the look Nami gave him and re-though what he was about to say. "Transponder Snail. I don't know where he is, haven't even met the guy, but he always contacts us by Transponder Snail."

Nami dug around in the thugs pocket and pulled out a diamond studded Baby Transponder Snail and placed it on the table.

"Hey, hey," Luffy piped up, "are we going to call this Casper guy?"

"It's Caspien," Nami corrected. "And I don't know how smart that would be."

"Aww, why not?"

"I do believe it would be wiser to keep Mrs. Sarah's location hidden," Robin said. "If the enemy knew she is now traveling with the Straw-Hat Pirates, it would be that much easier for more of his hired thugs to find her and that much harder for us to keep her safe."

"Eh? But they're not very strong," Luffy argued.

"They may not be so weak next time," Robin countered.

"You mean if we talk to the Cat Pee guy than strong guys will show up?!" Luffy asked getting excited. Zoro seemed to perk up at the mention of 'strong guys', and Usopp and Chopper were quick to intervene.

"Luffy! We _don't_ want strong guys showing up! That's the whole point of staying _hidden_!" Usopp drew it out slowly, yanking on Luffy's face as he tried to reach for the Transponder Snail.  
"Luffy, Luffy," Chopper begged, hanging off his shoulder with tears running down his face. "I don't want scary people to show up."

 _Bang—Thwack._

"What about the Shining Rocks," Nami asked, taking a stab in the dark and tucked the Transponder Snail away. Luffy and Zoro were both splayed on the table behind her nursing the smoking bumps on their heads. "Have you heard of them?"

"Shining Rocks? Oh!" the thugs face lit up in recognition. "You mean the crazy portal?"

"You know about it?!" Nami exclaimed, feeling her luck increase. Guess they weren't totally useless.

"Yeah. Like I said, we're originally from the West Blue. One day, this swirling, rainbow portal thing just opened up right in front of us and this note falls out, offering us this gig. All we had to do was step through the portal. Only thing is, didn't say anything about ending up in the Grand Line. Believe me, if we'd known, we'd never have taken this job. This sea is crazy!"

"So that's why you were so surprised when you saw my Devil Fruit powers," Luffy commented.

"And why you're so weak," Zoro added.

"I don't care about _how_ you know about the Rocks," Nami said, trying to get back on track. "I want to know where they are. You _do_ know where the island is, right?"

"Well . . ." the thug tapered off and mumbled, "No, not really."

"I see," Nami said, narrowing her eyes at the thug. "Let's recap, shall we?"

The thug audibly gulped and sunk lower to the floor.

Nami continued, "The boss behind these assassination attempts is some guy named Broker Caspien. You don't know who he is, where he is, or why he's after Sarah. You haven't even met the guy. You also don't know where to find the Shining Rocks. Other than a name and a Baby Transponder Snail that he may or may not even call, you don't have anything to offer us."

The thug nervously nodded and he could feel the sweat trickling down his neck.

"So, in short," Nami said, stretching to her full height over the two thugs, drawing out the pieces of her weapon. "You two are a couple of heartless, moronic, weaklings who would agree to kill an innocent child for money after being given nothing more than a picture and a location, without even bothering to ask why or even who it is that wants him dead."

"Well, when you say it like that. . ." the thug trailed off. Nami fumed and let loose the fury of her Climatact. The thug slumped to the floor, sporting bumps that matched the ones Luffy and Zoro had.

She turned to the other thug, who was cowering in the corner. "Anything to add?" she snapped. The thug quickly shook his head, only to meet the same fate as his brother. "Didn't think so."

The thugs were then thrown unceremoniously off the ship and into rather large pile of unconscious Tiger Hunters still lying on the pier where the powerhouses had left them.

 **Oo-oO**

In the infirmary, Sarah sat in a rocking chair. Luke was snuggled up against her chest, sleeping with even breaths and a slight frown, the small bronze dragon held tight. It had been a harrowing experience for them both. She'd let her guard down and it had almost cost her dearly. But, amazingly, Mr. Franky's crib had come through. . . although the flame throwers may have been over kill, she was grateful none the less.

Luke started to whimper in his sleep and clutched at Sarah's shirt. She rocked him and started to sing.

" _Drift and sway, though light may fade, the sea will carry on._

 _Though tides may turn and troubles lurk, the sea is always strong."_

The song reminded her of the long nights she'd spent with the boy's father when they were younger. Their little group of friends were always getting into trouble, causing havoc and mischief all over the island. Even back then, _that man_ could never walk by someone who abused their power.

 _"So rest, dear child, the water holds you in its warm embrace._

 _The dark will hide, the sun will rise and you'll be on your way."_

Luke settled back down as she sang, a smile pulled at his face. Sarah relaxed and closed her eyes while she continued to hum the lullaby. She had learned it from her mother when she was still a child, and she would sing it to their group of friends when they were out late at night, just watching the sea. She sat there and reminisced, letting the stress and fear ebb out of her body.

She wasn't alone anymore. This was the crew that Monkey D. Luffy had gathered. She could trust him. After all, this was all for him, even if he never finds out.

* * *

 **A/N:** If you love Luke, leave a review! If you hate this story, leave a review too! Feed the monster before the author is eaten by it! Then how will you learn about Sarah's secrets?


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The next morning was full of energy and enthusiasm. The Captain was excited to get on with their newest adventure but the Log Pose still needed more time to set. He needed constant reminding of that fact throughout breakfast, which was quite an overwhelming affair in Sarah's eye. Limbs and food were flying everywhere, despite the early hour. People where shouting and laughing and yelling at one another while trying to defend their plates from the all-reaching hands of their captain.

"Hey, let's go already," Luffy said over a mouthful of sausage and pancakes. "I wanna find the Shining Rock things."

"The Log still has to set," Nami said for the sixth time.

"I wonder if the Cat Piss guy is strong?" Luffy wondered aloud.

"If he was, he wouldn't be sending out cronies," Zoro said. "Don't get your hopes up."

"But he has strong guys working for him, right?"

"Luffy! Keep your hands-off Robin's plate!"

"Ah, Sanji! You messed up my arrangement with your foot!"

"Deal with it!"

"Hey, pass the strawberries—no! Don't eat them all!"

"Hey, hey I wonder what—don't touch that—what the next island will be like," Chopper said.

"Hopefully it will be deserted," Usopp sighed.

"If it's deserted, then there might be monstrous carnivores roaming around, waiting to tear us apart," Robin said with a straight face.

"Stop saying things like that."

"Yohoho, Robin's words always send shivers down my spine. Because I actually do have a spine. Yohohoho."

"Amazing," Sarah said as something went flying and was caught by an air-born Chopper.

Luke started laughing and clapping his hands from his new high chair that Mr. Franky had made. Sarah still wasn't sure what exactly it did and she was a little afraid to ask. He watched as Chopper landed on the table and dove back to his spot to dodge the flying rubber hand aimed at the plate behind him.

But, monkey see, monkey do, and Luke was definitely a monkey. He took a handful of cut up sausage from his almost empty plate and threw it high in the air.

"Lu-," Sarah began to scold him, but cut herself off. A rubber head stretched over and snapped the bits of food out of the air. Luke fell into another fit of giggles and Luffy joined in when his head retracted. Sarah gave up when the others started joining in. Soon it was a competition between Luffy and Usopp on who could catch the most food thrown by Luke. Chopper decided he wanted in, and Brook felt left out to so started to play too. Sanji kept the food coming and even Robin surprised them when a hand with a mouth grew out of Luffy's chin and caught a raspberry he was aiming for.

But eventually, the supply of food dwindled and stomachs began to get full. Mind you not all of them really hit their limit, but it was enough to sate them over till lunch. Sarah found herself smiling and laughing more than she had in months and if there was a tear or two discretely wiped away, anyone would mistake it for tears from laughing too hard.

"Alright, let's divide up the work," Nami called out after things had quieted down a bit. "Franky, you said you still have to pick up the Cola?"

"Yeah," Franky said, flipping down his shades. "My Super order should be ready by noon."

"Alright, it's just after nine and the Pose will set at about two," Nami said. "Usopp and Robin, you have until then to see what you can find out about the Shining Rocks."

"Right," Robin nodded.

"Roger," Usopp saluted. "Just call me Detective Usopp. Have I ever told you about the time when I was eleven and solved a series of murders in the North Blue?"

"Really?" Chopper asked, his eyes going big.

"Sanji, Brook," Nami said. "You guys are on morning watch. I don't want Sarah or Luke out of your sight for one second."

"Aye aye, Miss. Nami," Brook said, up to the task. "Nothing will get past my all-seeing eyes. Although being a skeleton, I don't have any eyes! Yohohoho!"

"Oh! I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day than with sweet Sarah!" Sanji swooned. "Except maybe if Nami and Robin were to join us."

"Actually," Sarah spoke up. "I know it'll be troublesome, but if we're leaving I need to go back to our cabin. I have some things I need to bring along."

"Of course, dear Sarah," Sanji announced. "Just lead the way and we'll—"

"Hold on!" Nami interrupted him. "Where is this cabin?"

"On the other side of the canyon," Sarah replied.

"That's kind of far," Nami argued.

"Then we'd better be going," Sarah said, standing firm.

"But what if more thugs show up?" Nami countered.

"Well, I don't think those two from last night will be causing anymore trouble," Sarah said. "And they haven't reported anything to their boss yet so there shouldn't be any others coming yet."

"Another adventure?" Luffy perked up. "Let's go!"

"Luffy!" Nami snapped.

"It'll be fine," Luffy brushed her off. "If anyone tries anything, I'll just beat them up again. It's no biggy."

"It's a _big_ biggy!" Nami yelled back.

"Let's go to Luke's house!" Luffy pumped a fist in the air.

"Yeah," Sanji and Brook copied his action and they set off with Sarah and Luke in tow.

 **Oo-oO**

"Hey, if it isn't the fellow from yesterday. How's the Froid Mineral working for ya?"

"Haven't had a chance to try it out, but I've got big plans for it," Usopp smiled at the shop keeper he'd met the other day, before everything had gone to crap. He and Robin had set off shortly after Luffy's group decided to go to Sarah's place. Robin had suggested they split up to cover more ground. Usopp would ask around the local shop owners while Robin looked through old records at the library to see if there was anything on paper. Usopp suspected that she just wanted to buy more books, but she just smiled and walked off, leaving him alone in the street.

"Well, what can I do for you?" the shop keeper asked. "Anything you need?"

"Actually, I'm looking for some information," Usopp admitted, leaning against the counter. "You see, yesterday my captain went off on his own and heard about something called the Shining Rocks. And since he's got a one-track mind, he's decided that he wants to see them for himself. Only problem is that we don't know what island these Shining Rocks are supposed to be on, only that it's somewhere in the area."

"Sounds troublesome," the shop keeper said.

"So, have you ever heard of the Shining Rocks before?" Usopp asked.

"The Shining Rocks, huh?" the shop keeper sighed. "We get travelers through every now and then who've mentioned them. But I've never heard of anyone actually finding them."

"Really, what can you tell me?"

"There's not much to tell. Word is that they're used in some ritual or something, but the whole thing is shrouded in secret so who knows what's true."

"Yeah, I'd heard that before."

"As for where, who knows."

"Come on," Usopp pressed. "There's got to be something."

"Hmm . . ." the shop keeper scratched his beard in thought. "Well, I don't know if it has anything to do with it . . ."

"Go on," Usopp urged, feeling the excitement of discovery.

"There's an island with a great mountain that's said to shine brightly once a year. Call it the Shining Mountain. Maybe it's related to your Shining Rocks."

"Really? You think so?!"

"Who knows. You get to decide what you believe."

"So, which island has this Shining Mountain?"

"Actually, if you're following the Log, it's the next destination. Its name is Firannial."

 **Oo-oO**

" _Adventure, adventure is waiting to be found. Adventure, adventure us bound to be around_ ," Luffy sang as they came to the canyon wall.

"That's quite the song there, Luffy," Brook commented, producing his violin and striking a few chords.

"I made it up yesterday," Luffy announced proudly. "Sing it with me!"

" _Adventure, adventure is waiting to be found,"_ Luffy and Brook sang together.

"Idiots," Sanji muttered under his breath.

"It's nice that they're so full of energy," Sarah said beside him.

"It's nice for now," Sanji said. "But wait until you're stuck on a ship with them for weeks at a time. It gets old fast."

"I think it's charming," Sarah said, watching as Brook broke into a violin solo and Luffy cheered him on.

"So if I join them, you'll think I'm charming too!" Sanji flaunted, fully ready to join in the song if need be.

"Mr. Sanji, I think you're plenty charming on your own," Sarah said, smiling to him.

Sanji melted into a love-struck puddle on the ground.

"Hey hey, Brook," Luffy called out, "take a look at this, Sanji turned into a puddle."

"Ah, I wonder if his bones have liquefied," Brook said, leaning over.

"Ha ha ha, you sounded like Robin," Luffy laughed.

"Did I? Yohohoho."

"Bastards!" Sanji was suddenly up and raring to go. "Don't imitate my darling Robin like that!"

Sarah giggled behind a hand and felt the sling on her back shift. Luke's head popped up over her shoulder and wiped away his sleepy eyes. "Good morning, sleepy head," Sarah said and he latched onto a clump of her hair.

"Hey Luke's mom," Luffy called and she realized she had fallen behind. "How much farther?"

"It's just on the other side of the canyon," Sarah answered as she drew level with them. They all stood at the edge of the canyon over looking the great abyss carved out by ancient rivers that once threaded through the land. She scanned the base of the canyon and could make out the cave she had used only yesterday and the destruction left behind by that encounter.

She shook herself out of her thoughts when Luffy bounded up next to her and awed over the canyon again.

"It's still so big!"

"It's not going to change overnight," Sanji snapped back. "Which way now, Sarah dear?"

"See that cave down there," Sarah pointed.

"Hey, it's the mystery cave!" Luffy exclaimed. "And there's the place where I smashed that guy into the wall. He he, you can still see his outline."

"The cave is an escape route I'd found when I first got here. My cabin's just on the other side."

"Look's like we've got to climb down then," Brook said, observing the height at which they stood. "It's pretty high."

"Right, let's go!" Luffy yelled. In his excitement, and to Sarah's horror, Luffy took a running start before jumping clean off the edge.

"No, don't—!" Sarah screamed as he plummeted out of view.

"Don't worry," Sanji reassured her. "He'll be fine. He's just an idiot."

"Rubber-man, right," Sarah said, more to assure her pounding heart than anything else. "It just took me by surprise."

"He's pretty good at doing that," Sanji said.

"Ah, he made it," Brook said, leaning precariously over the side of the cliff and watched as Luffy waved up at them.

"Hey- _ey-ey-ey_ ," Luffy's voice echoed off the rock walls. "Come- _me_ on- _on-on-on_."

"Moron!" Sanji yelled down, "we can't just jump like you!"

"Why- _y-y_ not- _ot-ot_?"

Sanji didn't grace him with an answer. He simply turned back to his dear Sarah, "Let's find another way dow—aaaahhhh!" Sarah watched as Sanji was pulled over the side of the cliff, dragged down by his captain's rubber hand. She scrambled to the edge and peered over, scared of what she'd find. She was relieved when she saw the cook land on Luffy's inflated body then proceed to kick the living tar out of his captain. She sighed and flopped back.

"Mrs. Sarah," Brook offered a hand to help her up. "Might I suggest we make our own way down before the captain decides to help us out."

"Yes," Sarah replied quickly and led the way to the path into the canyon. She felt Luke reach over to touch her face, somehow sensing her distress. She twisted around and planted a kiss on his forehead. "It's alright, don't worry," she reassured him. The smile was quick to adorn Luke's face and he went back to having his little dragon make a nest out of her hair.

 **Oo-oO**

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da_

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da_

"Hey Nami, what's that noise?" Chopper asked.

"Huh?" Nami looked up from her desk. "Oh yeah, the Baby Transponder Snail." She pulled the diamond studded Baby Transponder Snail out and placed it on the table.

"You mean the ones those thugs had?"

"Yeah."

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da_

". . ."

". . ."

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da_

"Hey," Chopper said as the Snail continued to ring. "Wasn't that boss guy supposed to call?"

"Caspien? Yeah, he was."

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da_

"Ah! It's him!" they both exclaimed and jumped up.

 _Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da._

"Wha-wha-what do we do?" Chopper stuttered.

"Well don't answer it," Nami sputtered, backing away from the diamond studded snail sitting on the table. "As long as he doesn't know that Sarah is traveling with the Straw-Hat pirates, then he can't send anyone after us."

Up on the deck, Zoro finished a rep and dropped one of his overly huge dumbbells, causing the entire ship to rattle. Back inside, Nami and Chopper watched in horror as the diamond studded Transponder Snail bounced from the surface of the table and collided with the ground.

The snail straightened up and opened its eyes. _Ka-cha_.

"It answered!" Chopper and Nami silently cursed and felt the life drain away.

 _"You idiots truly are useless aren't you,"_ the voice from the other end said. _"Since I'm the one calling you, I gather that it's safe to assume that you have once again failed in eliminating the child."_

Nami and Chopper tensed as the voice got straight to business.

 _"I have been merciful, given you a second chance, which is more than I have given to the more capable ones I've sent. You must have caught me on a good day, but your luck has run out. Now what excuses do you have this time?"_

Nami and Chopper stood petrified, not daring to speak.

 _"Nothing? Well that saves some time I gues—"_

The door opened and Zoro walked in, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Hey have you seen the—"

"Shut up!" Nami and Chopper tackled Zoro as he barged into the room.

 _"What was that?!"_ the voice on the snail demanded.

"Ah! You just ruined it! Now he knows we're here!" Nami snapped, strangling Zoro.

"Zoro! Zoro! Why?!" Chopper begged and he pulled on Zoro's pant leg with tears threatening to spill.

 _"I see,"_ the voice said, calmly.

"No, no, no, no," Nami reassured the snail. "It's not what you think."

 _"I believe that the woman has found protection. And who might you be?"_

"No one, we're no one. Absolutely no one of importance."

 _"Is that so?"_

"Would you get off me!" Zoro demanded and pushed Nami away, shaking off Chopper in the process. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Zoro, Zoro, I don't want him to send people after us!" Chopper sobbed.

"What?"

 _"Zoro? Roronoa Zoro?"_ The voice asked. _"Now that's interesting."_

"No, no, nothing interesting's going on here," Nami tried. "We just happened to find this snail in the street and—"

 _"Straw Hat Pirates,"_

"Ah! He knows!" Chopper cried.

" _What a twist of fate. Be sure to tell your captain that I anticipate the day when I cut him down with my own hands."_

Zoro's eyes narrowed and he picked up the Baby Transponder Snail. "So you're the bastard who keeps sending thugs out to kill a defenceless kid."

 _"And you're the infamous Roronoa Zoro, wielder of the Three-Sword Style."_

"If you intend to go against my captain," Zoro said, his voice kept even and steely. "Then you'll have to send more than a couple of third rate thugs."

 _"If you say so,"_ the voice on the other end of the line chuckled. _"What you don't know is that at the moment, your captain is more vulnerable than you think."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro growled.

 _"That's the question, isn't it,"_ the voice laughed again. _"I suppose you may find out eventually. I look forward to seeing how this plays out. But for now, this is farewell."_

 _Ka-cha._ The diamond studded Baby Transponder Snail went back to sleep and Zoro turned to his two remaining crew mates. Nami and Chopper were sulking together in a little huddle on the ground, waves of depression rolling off them.

"What's wrong with you two?" he asked nonchalantly.

Two heat filled gazes snapped up to him and Zoro took a step back. "You idiot! You ruined everything! Now he knows!"

"So what?" Zoro tried to fend them off. "It's not like it changes anything.  
"Doesn't change anything," Nami mocked. "Sure, nothing except a steady stream of thugs and bounty hunters that will be coming after us to try and get to Sarah and Luke. You just made things a hundred times worse!"

"A hundred!" Chopper exclaimed.

"It'll be fine," Zoro waved it off. "It's nothing we can't handle."

"So he says," Nami went back to sulking.

 **Oo-oO**

"It seems the Occlusal brothers have failed again," the scared man said, hanging up the Transponder Snail.

"So it seems," his right-hand man replied. "Does this hinder us in any way?"

"It's no matter," the scarred man waved. "I didn't expect much from them anyway. They only needed to draw her out into the open."

"She has found protection."

"The Straw-Hat Pirates," the scarred man growled.

"Should I send a pursuit team?"

"No. We know where they're headed. They're going back to where this all started."

"Indeed."

"No need to mess with fate just yet. We've been patient this long. The fire will rage in a week's time, then we will put the final plan into action. The child will die, and this world will be cleansed of a monster."

 **Oo-oO**

"Hey, I see the exit!" Luffy yelled, his voice bouncing off the cave's walls. He giggled as he ran toward the light at the end of the tunnel. "Wow! Look at all the rocks!"

The rocky landscape stretched out in front of them, uneven and strong. Hills of rocks jutted out of the ground at random intervals while other points had deep pits that went down for miles. Vegetation was scarce and other than a small stream nearby, there were no signs of life.

"This island's economy was built around mining," Sarah explained. "There's tons of different ores and minerals that can be found in these mountains. It's all pretty open space, but there's a bit more privacy closer to the canyon wall here."

The others looked up at the rock face they'd just emerged from. It towered over them and formed a sort of cup around where they had come out of. Off to one side, there was a little cabin. Sarah looked at the cabin that had been her home for only a few scarce weeks. It could hardly be called a home, more of a temporary living quarters. Hardly a way to raise a child, but it was the only way she knew to stay alive. Proof of that was evident from the state of the cabin.

The front door was smashed to pieces and a wardrobe had been thrown through a window, although there hadn't been much in it. She took a shuddering breath as she took in the damage. "Well," she said lightly. "At least it's still standing."

". . . Right," Sanji said, watching her closely.

On her back Luke squirmed. He'd been keeping still for too long and he needed to move, needed to play. "Un, un," he said as he tried to push his way out of the sling.

"Okay, okay," Sarah said and untied the sling. "Would you mind keeping him company for a bit," she asked Luffy. "I shouldn't be long."

"Yeah sure," Luffy smiled, plopping Luke up on his shoulders. "Hey buddy, let's go climb a big mountain!"

"Allow me to accompany you," Brook said and the three ran off to explore the island beyond the canyon.

"They get too excited sometimes," Sanji shook his head and turned back to the lady. "Shall we?"

"Let's," Sarah smiled to him and led the way around the broken door. She felt a little apprehensive, not knowing what to expect.

"This place is a mess," Sanji said, glancing around at the turned over furniture and clothes strewn about. "They really did a number here."

The first thing Sarah did was check the wall behind the door. She sighed in relief when she saw that it was still hanging on the hook and looked like it hadn't been touched.

"What's that? Is it important?" Sanji asked.

Sarah held out a tube covered in leather. She unzipped the round flap at the top. He saw the feathered ends of arrows.

"It's a quiver."

"Now I just need to find the bow to go with it."

Sanji smiled. "So you aren't completely defenceless."

"I'm no good in a straight up fight," Sarah admitted. "But it doesn't mean I can't fight back. Earlier, those guys just caught me off guard. We were out in the yard when they found the house. I didn't have time to grab my bag or my bow."

"Ah, is this it?" Sanji pulled a long stick out from under an overturned table. It was snapped in the middle, and both ends were still attached by the bowstring.

"It used to be," Sarah sighed as the useless bow was dropped back onto the ground.

Sanji kept sifting through some of the stuff while she picked her way through the mess to the back room. This door was still on its hinges, surprisingly, but only just. She breathed out in relief when she saw her pack still in the corner of the room where she'd left it. She knelt beside it and threw open the top flat. Everything was still there; rations, warm clothes, extra diapers, packs of formula, her notebooks, and her hooks!

"Is that what you wanted to get?" Sanji asked from the door.

"It's my emergency pack for whenever they find us," Sarah explained, tying up the bag again and throwing it over a shoulder. "`You have no idea how relieved I am that we could come back for it."

"Something important in there?"

"Important to me," Sarah admitted, fingering her notebooks. "My livelihood too. Do you know how hard it is to find a good set of hooks out here?"

"Hooks?"

"Crochet hooks," Sarah explained, and pulled out a little cloth package from the bag to show him the neat row of little hooks of varying sizes. "It's how I've managed to make a bit of money here and there."

"Really? I didn't peg you as the crafty type," Sanji said, but quickly corrected himself. "Not that it doesn't suit you."

"I find it keeps me grounded," Sarah said. "It can get lonely sometimes, always hiding, never being able to get to know people because they might not be friends in the end. But I'm rambling now. . ."

Sanji blew out a stream of smoke and looked at Sarah in a new light. "You've been through a lot."

"You can say that," Sarah chuckled dryly.

"You're not alone anymore."

"Yeah," she smiled and turned to him. "Thanks."

 **Oo-oO**

Usopp trudged through the streets. He hadn't found out anything else that could be of use, and since the designated time was approaching, he was looking for wherever Robin had wandered off to.  
He spotted a wooden sign hanging over a doorway with a book on it, and he made his way over to it. He peeked into the library and saw the archaeologist standing at the front counter with an old woman and an even older looking book open between them.

"Hey Robin," he called. She looked up and waved him over.

"A friend of yours?" the old lady asked.

"Yes, a shipmate," Robin replied.

"Well then," the old lady smiled and slammed the old book shut. "I wish you luck on your quest."

Robin thanked the old librarian and led the way back onto the streets.

"So," Usopp said. "You find anything?"

"A clue," Robin said. " _The island with the Shining Rocks can be found on a sea torn between heat and cold, on a path shrouded in mist and deception."_

"I don't like the sound of that."

"I'm getting excited," Robin smiled.

 **Oo-oO**

"And the dragon defends the castle with his fire breath!" Luffy said as Luke's dragon was placed on the top of their rock castle that they had made under Luke's supervision. Luke giggled as the dragon stomped on little rock soldiers that tried to invade.

"A song of victory was then awarded to the brave dragon," Brook said and struck up a merry tune.

Luke giggled and clapped at the performance from where he sat on the ground. He crawled over to the rock castle and pulled himself up. With one little arm, he reached and grabbed hold of his little dragon and held it up.

"Da?"

"The dragon saved the day!" Luffy cheered.

"Da!" Luke smiled and the dragon was placed back on top of the castle. A moment later, Luke picked it up again and held it up to Luffy. "Dada!"

"Huh?"

Luke smiled and pointed at Luffy with his dragon, "Dada!"

"Oh my," Brook said.

Luffy looked down at the child who was waving the little bronze statue at him.

"Da-da!" Luke squealed and hugged the dragon.

"Oh, dragon!" Luffy laughed and crouched down beside him, pointing at the statue. "Dra-gon."

"Dada!" Luke laughed again and held up the dragon. Luffy laughed along with him.

Brook slouched in relief.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Sarah called out from in front of the house. Sanji had insisted he carry her big heavy bag, saying that no lady should be stuck carrying such a burden.

"Aw," Luffy pouted, "We're going back already?"

"Don't you want to find the Shining Rocks?" Sanji said.

"Yeah!" Luffy jumped up, then he dumped Luke onto his shoulders. "Let's go!"

 **Oo-oO**

Franky loaded the last barrel of Cola into the engine room as a commotion erupted above. He climbed up the ladder and pushed open the hatch, wondering what it could be _this_ time. But one thing's for sure, he certainly didn't expect the ship to be full of a bunch of old men in bikini's tanning on the deck.

"What the heck?" he scratched his head, taking in the twelve or so wrinkly guys who had laid out beech chairs and little tables with fruity drinks and little umbrellas. "I'm not sure what's going on here, but I like your style!"

So, it was to Nami's frustration that she found Franky sun tanning on the deck alongside twelve other men all clad in bikini bottoms and showing _way_ too much skin. "What the hell is wrong with all of you!?" she demanded, and bashed in the heads of the three guys who were closest to her. "Who are you and why are you on our ship! Wait, more importantly, _why did you join them?!"_ She gave Franky an extra hard whack that even managed to get through his thick metal skull.

"Ow," he nursed his new head wound. "Oh! I got caught up in the moment. Hey, who the hell are you guys?"

"You're only asking this now?" a man in a green bikini said, looking over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Just tell us who you are," Nami shouted, raising a fist.

"Okay, okay," green bikini said, raising his hands in defence.

The men, all in their different patterned bikinis lined up behind green bikini guy. As one they all bowed. "Thank you very much!"

"Huh?"

"Let me introduce myself," Mr. Green Bikini said. "I am the chief of this town and these are my chairmen." The Bikini Squad waved. "For months now, the Tiger Hunter Guild has been causing trouble over the whole island. Honestly, they were more trouble then they were worth. But then this morning, one of my chairmen—" he gestures to a flower print bikini man, "told me he saw the entire gang out cold and piled up like a heap of garbage by the pier. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I decided to check for myself. And low and behold, it was true. I was so relieved that I gathered my chairmen and we shipped the Tiger Hunter Guild off on a ship. The only thing left to do was to thank the ones who got rid of this menace and to celebrate."

"So you decided to have a tanning party on our deck!" Nami snapped.

"It's not like that," Greenie said quickly. "It's just that the sun was so bright and the sky was clear and you get the perfect light right here, before we knew it, we had set up camp and were enjoying ourselves rather nicely."

"That's not an excuse!"

"Hey, calm down," Franky reasoned. "They weren't causing any harm—"

WHAM! "You're in trouble too!" Nami seethed. "Who just jumps in and joins a bunch of old guys in bikini bottoms anyway?!"

"Well, it's just that the sun was so bright, the sky was clear and before I knew it, I was sitting on a beech chair enjoying some freshly made fruit punch."

Nami's fist shook with rage and Franky wisely took a couple steps back.

"Hey, we're back!" Usopp said as he and Robin walked up the gang plank. "Woah! There's a bunch of weirdo's in bikinis with fruity drinks!"

"My," Robin smiled, "seems like we're missing out on the party."

"Robin~" Nami whinned. "Don't encourage them. We're trying to get them to leave!"

"But we just wanted to thank you," Greenie said.  
"Thank us?" Usopp asked. "For what?"

"For beating up that gang of wannabes last night," Nami sighed. "It's not like we were trying to help out, they attacked us and we just fought back."

"You mean Luffy, Zoro and Sanji fought back," Usopp corrected.

"What's the difference?"

"Those three cause more permanent damage."

"Right. . ."

"Speaking of," Usopp said, changing to subject. "Are the others back yet? "

"No sign of them," Nami checked the position of the sun. "They'd better hurry, it's almost time we head out. By the way, did you find anything about the Shining Rocks?"

"Well, Robin's got some cryptic riddle," Usopp said. "But I heard there's a Shining Mountain nearby."

"I found that too," Robin said.

"Yeah, it's on an island called Fir—fee—far—"

"Firannial."

"Right, what she said," Usopp crossed his arms. "And guess what, it's the next island the log points to."

"Well, it gives us a start," Nami said.

"Ah, yes, Firannial," Greenie said reminiscing. "They've got some good sun bathing beeches there."

"Who asked you?!" Nami screeched. "Get off!"


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Notes for this chapter include very little plot development, very much ridiculousness and very little logic. This is a filler chapter as they travel between islands and it just kind of got away from me.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

"I wonder what the next island is gonna be like," Luffy said as he swung his legs and held his fishing rod over the sea.

"I hope it's got lots of friendly people," Chopped smiled up at him.

"Actually," Usopp broke in, "truth is that it's filled with tons of ten foot cannibals!"

"What?!" Chopper jumped.

"He he," Usopp grinned. "Don't worry, I used to fight off hundreds of them when I was a knight and I saved the princess of the biggest kingdom in the South Blue."

"Really? Wow!" Chopper's eyes shone.

"I don't care how many monsters there are," Luffy scoffed. "I want to see the big mountain thing! How big do you think it is?"

"I heard it's at lease five thousand feet tall!" Usopp stretched his arms up high.

 **Oo-oO**

"Oh, you didn't have to," Sarah said.

"This is nothing," Franky waved her off. "I mean, it's not everyday I get to make something like this."

The creation is question sat in front of Luke who had a big smile on his face. The toy was rectangular with four different coloured buttons and four corresponding hatches that would open when its button is pressed. Luke was poking about it, trying to lift up the flaps with little luck.

"Like this," Sarah said, kneeling beside him. She slowly reached out and pressed the red button. The red flap popped open and a little lion stood up at attention. Luke squealed and laughed. Soon, the kid was pressing the buttons and resetting the hatches for hours of fun and games.

Sarah straightened up, "I'd call it a success."

"Just make sure you keep it set to play mode," Franky mentioned.

". . . Play mode?" Sarah hesitated. "There's another mode?"

"Yeah, but . . . well, let's just leave it be for now."

"Yes," Sarah nodded a little too quickly, "yes, let's do that."

 **Oo-oO**

"Wow," Sarah's eyes grew wide. "You've got a whole garden on this ship! And an orchard too!"

"Those are Nami's tangerine trees," Usopp explained from his fishing position on the rail with the others. "She brought them from her home island where her foster mother used to grow them. She's super protective of them, so you better not try to steal any. If you do, she migh—"

"What might I do?" Nami's voice came from directly behind them.

"Hiiii!" Usopp screeched and hid behind Sarah. "N-n-n-nothing—I-I-I was just—I didn't say—"

 _Thwack!_

"You grow them in pots?" Sarah asked, leaving the still smoking Usopp on the ground as Nami led her over to the orchard.

"Yep. It seems to work well enough."

"They seem kind of small. Doesn't that put stress on the tree?"

"Stress?"

"Yeah, the small pot would limit how far the roots can grow, not to mention the limited amount of nutrients available in the soil. Although I suppose it could work if you were continually fertilizing what little soil there is, and if the tree develops a more sophisticated absorption system. . ." She stopped when she realized she was rambling again.

"You seem to know a lot about trees," Nami smiled.

"Well back in the East Blue, I traveled to many different islands to study forestry."

"So that's it," Nami said. "Then maybe you can help me with something. It doesn't seem like too big a deal, but some of the leaves are starting to turn brown and wrinkly."

Sarah looked at the leaves in question, they all seemed to be concentrated to the trees closest to the edge of the ship and only on the side facing the sea. "Hm . . ."

"I make sure they get plenty of water and sun's not an issue," Nami continued with a frown.

"It's not a problem of dehydration," Sarah said. "If it were that, the entire crown of the tree would be affected."

"The what?"

"All the leaves would be dry," Sarah explained. "But in this case, only the leaves facing the ocean are being affected."

"You're right!" Nami noticed.

"Actually, I'm surprised that it's not worse than this. You've got some impressive specimens here."

"So what's the problem?"

"Salt," Sarah said simply.

"Salt?"

"More specifically, salt water. The ocean is splashing up on the leaves and causing the brown spots. It's why only the trees closest to the ocean are being affected."

"So that was it," Nami awed, then smiled. "And what would you suggest, Mrs. Forester?"

Sarah blushed and chuckled, "Well the only thing I can think of is to set up a sort of barrier to block the sea spray. You may want to cover up the soil too. Salty soil can also result in drought symptoms."

"Wow, you're great!" Nami exclaimed and threw her arms around Sarah.

"No problem," Sarah smiled awkwardly.

"Hurry, pull it in!" Luffy's voice came from the rail. The girls turned to check it out and saw Usopp struggling to hold onto his fishing rod. Whatever he had caught seemed promising.

"It-it's slipping!" Usopp ground out as his feet slid closer to the edge of the ship. Luffy also grabbed onto the fishing rod and yanked up with his monstrous strength. In the end, the promise of a delicious meal soon had the monster of a fish flapping on the deck.

"We did it!" Luffy yelled, arms outstretched to the sky.

"Is that even a fish?" Nami questioned as the thing moaned.

"Sure it is," Luffy said crouching beside the thing. "It was swimming in the ocean, so that makes it a fish!"

"No it doesn't," Usopp said. "Dolphins aren't fish and they swim in the sea."

"Since when?" Luffy pouted.

"Since always!"

"Who cares whether it's a fish or not, it'll still taste good!" Luffy salivated.

"You're not seriously gonna eat that thing!?" Nami snapped.

"Why not?"

"When for one, it's covered in huge spikes, and second, it's got a hand for a tail!"

"So what?" Luffy asked innocently.

"I've never seen anything like that in my life," Sarah awed.

"Well, whatever it is," Usopp said. "It was a tough battle, but in the end, I, the Great Captain Usopp was able to tame this wild beast and bring it back!"

"Actually, that's just a baby," Sanji said, walking up the stairs and interrupting.

"How is this thing a baby?!" Usopp exclaimed. "It's six feet long!"

"And the adults are over thirty," Sanji explained.

"So you know what it is?" Sarah asked.

"Are you impressed with my ever expanding intellect?!" Sanji swooned. "When it comes to fish and how to cook them, I know just about everything!"

"So what is it?!" Nami snapped.

"This here is what's called a Snaperjaw," Sanji explained. "Pretty young too by the look on him."

"So can we eat it?!" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Wouldn't recommend it," Sanji straightened up.

"Does it taste bad?"

"Actually, I've heard that it's a high grade delicacy when it's sautéed with garlic and chives."

"Then hurry up and cook it up! I wanna eat it," Luffy yelled, a river of saliva rolling out of his mouth.

"If you want to get attacked, then go ahead," Sanji snapped.

"Attacked?" the colour drained from Nami's and Usopp's faces.

"Yeah, this here's a baby, like I said. The mothers are fiercely protective of their young. Usually, if a sailor even touches a child, the mother will sink whatever's . . . around. . ."

Silence stretched out over the crew and they collectively looked down at the flopping, moaning fish thing on the deck. The silence of broken all at once as something huge erupted from the ocean with a mighty roar!

"Great!" Nami screams as a thirty-foot version of the thing on the deck towered over the Thousand Sunny. "This can't get any worse."

"Actually. . ." Sanji hesitates.

"What is it now?!" Usopp screams.

"The Snaperjaws also command legions of carnivorous jelly fish."

The sea was then flooded with hundreds of green jellyfish that started pulling themselves up onto the deck of the ship and running around with their tentacles.

Usopp screamed and ran around in circles, Brook and Chopper soon joined him.

Sanji swore and started kicking them back into the sea.

Luffy laughed and picked one up, grabbing hold of the tentacles and laughing again at the funny feeling.

"Luke!" Sarah yelled and took off toward where she last saw him on the main deck.

She grabbed a fishing pole and used it to bat away jellyfish as they blocked her path and leaped over the rail onto the lower deck where Luke was still playing with his pop-up toy. Franky and Robin were nearby and Zoro dropped down from the crow's nest.

"Looks like I get to try out the Battle Mode after all," Franky grinned and Sarah felt her apprehension grow as Mr. Franky switched Luke's toy from Play Mode to Battle Mode. "Let her rip, little guy."

Luke's eyes shone as the jellyfish approached. He raised a little hand and smashed the red button. The hatch opened and a lion popped up, only this time, the lion wasn't facing Luke, but the jellyfish. The lion's mouth opened and a stream of fire incinerated the closest jellyfish, leaving nothing but a pile of gooey ashes.

"Again with the weapons!" Sarah shouted.

"Couldn't help myself," Franky grinned, then tossed her something long and thin. "Try that one out while you're at it."

Sara stared a moment at the bow he'd thrown her and she didn't hesitate. Reaching back, she drew and arrow from her quiver, nocked, and fired. The arrow blew through three jellyfish until it got embedded in the mast.

"Nice shot," Robin smiled as her arms crossed over her chest. Arms grew from the deck and swept more jellyfish back into the ocean.

Luke pressed the blue button and a fish popped up to blast the enemies with a stream of water that washed them all into a pile. Zoro stepped in and drew two swords.

"Two sword style," he mumbled and closed his eyes. "Nigiri. . ." He held them out in front, parallel to the ground. ". . . Flash!" His swords sailed to the side and flying slashes destroyed the pile Luke created. "Where did these things come from?"

"The ocean," Robin said with a straight face.

"Yeah, I got that much!"

"Your crew mates caught a baby fish monster thing," Sarah said, loosing another arrow. "That big one is the mother apparently."  
"Those idiots," Zoro ground and slashed again.

The giant sea monster roared and drew Chopper's attention. "What was that? _Return my child._ "

Luke pressed the yellow button and a giraffe electrocuted the next batch.

One of the green jellyfish saw the child on the deck and recalled its mission. _Retrieve the child_. The jellyfish jiggled the order to the others and they converged on the main deck. Sarah saw them coming, and reached for another arrow. . . only three left. She drew two of them and shot down the two jellyfish sneaking up behind Luke.

Luke took the chance to press the last button on the toy, the green button. Sarah briefly wondered what it could hold; a caterpillar that shot out silk netting? A bird that let loose a storm of wind? A boogy man that exploded with slime?

The green hatched popped up and a cat held out a bottle of milk. Luke squealed with delight and stuck the bottle in his mouth, slurping away happily.

"Seriously!" Sarah nearly fell over.

The jellyfish took the moment of distraction to converge. The lead jellyfish reached out a slimy tentacle toward him when Luke noticed him.

Then the final arrow flew true and the lead jelly's tentacle was sliced clean off. It flinched back but couldn't move quick enough to avoid Sarah's foot and it sailed far over the side of the ship, splashing into the sea.

But while the lead jellyfish was taken out, the others still followed their orders. Sarah managed to scoop Luke up into her arms before the both of them were enveloped in a net of green tentacles. She felt the sting of the contact and shielded Luke from their touch as they were dragged into the sea.

 **Oo-oO**

Not too far away, an army of shrimp watched the jellyfish retrieve a child and its protector. This was their chance to get one up on the Snaperjaw in their war and please their master.

The shrimp leader gave the order and the shrimp soldiers took out the jelly soldiers transporting the child in an instant.

 **Oo-oO**

Sarah didn't have a clue what was happening. One moment she was trying to save Luke from the jellyfish stings while trying to keep their heads above the water, the next moment hundreds of little orange shrimp are swarming around them, helping them stay afloat.

From the Thousand Sunny, Chopper leaned over the edge and yelled to her. "Are you alright?"

"Somehow," Sarah yelled back, eyeing the forms of the retreating green jellyfish. Then the shrimp supporting her started to move, carrying her away from the ship. "What?!"

"Oh no!" Chopper screamed as the new threat carried Sarah and Luke away. "I've got to do something!"

"Oh no you don't," Zoro managed to grab him before he could jump into the sea and drown himself.

"But what about Sarah?!" Chopper whined.

The jellyfish on the ship started to retreat upon the arrival of the shrimp, and the monstrous Snaperjaw in the sea roared in anger. Then the sea started shaking once more as the shrimp army's master rose from the depths.

"A giant turtle?!"

"They're taking Sarah and Luke to it!" Chopper said. "We've got to save them!"

"But what about the jellyfish?" Zoro snapped back.

"They're retreating," Chopper noticed, and heard something strange. The giant Snaperjaw seemed to be scolding the jellyfish, then he realized what had happened. "Ah! They grabbed Luke instead of the Snaperjaw baby because their orders were to 'retreive the child' and they mixed up Luke for the fish!"

"How does that even happen?!" Zoro yelled.

"How should I know!" Chopper yelled back.

"Would you two knock it off!" Nami yelled.

"Why do these things keep happening?" Usopp cried.

Luffy was standing at the back of the ship with the baby Snaperjaw still flopping around on the deck. He stared at the mother Snaperjaw then took a deep breath. "Hey Fish Thing!"

The Mother Snaperjaw whipped her head around to glare at the ones who took her child.

"Sorry!" Luffy grinned. "We caught your baby by mistake! You can have him back." With a grunt, he heaved the fish-thing over the rail and it flopped back into the ocean. The Mother Snaperjaw seemed to calm down as her child was returned, and the rest of the crew relaxed.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" Sanji asked irritated.

"It was a fun fight," Luffy chuckled to himself, then turned back to the Mother Snaperjaw. "We returned your kid, so can you give back our friends now?"

The Mother Snaperjaw turned her attention to the giant turtle that had erupted and growled.

" _It's not my army that has taken your friends,_ she says," Chopper translated.

"What does that mean?" Nami asked.

" _The Turnaples have always been at war with the Snaperjaws, they thought that by taking a hostage they could get the upper hand._ "

"Hostage?" Sanji exclaimed. "You mean my darling Sarah has been taken hostage by a bunch of shrimp!"

" _Don't worry, it's because of my incompetent soldiers that your friends were taken. We'll help you get them back!"_

 **Oo-oO**

Luke was crying, and to be honest, Sarah kind of felt like crying too. It wasn't enough that she had been dragged off the ship by jellyfish, kidnapped by shrimp, then taking to a giant turtle, but now she was _inside_ the turtle's shell where a pseudo throne room had been built, and standing in front of something that looked like a cross between a turtle, a shark and a human that was twenty feet tall. And to top it all off, it looked pissed.

The turtle-shark thing took one look at her and started to . . . not quite growl, but something like that, at the shrimp. The shrimp then started scrambling around, before diving back into the pool of water that surrounded the city within the turtle's shell. The turtle-shark thing turned its attention back to Sarah and she held Luke closer, which quieted him down some as he buried his face into her shoulder.

The turtle-shark thing did his growl thing at her, and her legs started to shake a little, but she held her head up and glared at the thing. Her bow had been dropped on the ship, her quiver was empty and the knife she kept strapped to her thigh had been washed away in the sea. She was truly defenceless, but she had a life to protect.

The turtle-shark thing stared at her, as if waiting a response. It growled again, and Sarah realized it was trying to say something.

"I don't speak fish, sorry," she said curtly.

The turtle-shark thing's face scrunched up in what Sarah guessed was an eye roll, or exasperation. It waved a hand, then two smaller turtle-fish things appeared on either side of her.

Sarah jumped at their appearance and slapped away their reaching hands. They growled at her and she took a few steps back. Luke whimpered as he eyed the monsters.

"Shh," Sarah whispered to him gently, "It's alright. I won't let anything happen to you." Luke grabbed a fistful of her hair and buried his face in her shoulder again.

Sarah's resolve grew and she took in her surroundings. The giant turtle-shark thing towered to one side, but didn't look like it had moved from that spot in years. The smaller ones were eyeing her up, seeing what she would do. The ground was made of a gagged rock-like material, with large stalagmites scattered here and there. There was nothing littered on the ground, no convenient weapons laying around, no brightly lit 'escape' door nearby. . .

 _Hey, that might work._ The thought was so ridiculous that she almost passed it by. But maybe it was her recent adventures and near misses, or maybe it was the company she had recently found herself in that had her pushing past the two soldiers and skidding to a stop beside a long and narrow stalagmite. She aimed her foot at the base of it and broke off a long pointy rock-stick. She held it in one hand and pointed it at the two turtle-shark things. They recoiled back in shock and hesitated to make a move. They didn't look armed, but those teeth were no joke and Sarah suspected that their claws were also probably something to be weary of.

The soldiers roared in frustration and charged. Sarah readied herself, pointy rock-stick in one hand, her Luke in the other. She swung her makeshift weapon at the first one and landed the first hit. Her eyes grew wide and her heart pounded with excitement as the attacker recoiled, arms raised in defence . . . then her pointy rock stick crumbled apart.

"Ah!" she yelled as the not so strong rock fell to the ground and she sighed. "Well, it wasn't much of a plan anyways."

Then the ground started to shake and the space was filled with moaning vibrations as the giant turtle was attacked from the outside.

The soldiers looked to the big fat turtle-shark thing for instructions, and it did it's angry growling roar type thing. More soldiers and shrimp seemed to appear from the water and from behind rocks and gathered in formation.

The rumbling increased and Sarah fell to the ground, grasping Luke with both arms tightly. Sunlight flooded the area as a hole was carved out of the ceiling and hundreds of green jellyfish fell in from the sky. The turtle-shark soldiers and the green jellyfish started fighting, and Sarah covered Luke's ears as the roars of the giant turtle-shark drown out the screams of the fighting. She scrambled to her feet and ran, but there was no where to run, and she couldn't very well get out from the hole in the ceiling, unless she could fly . . . or someone else could.

"Ya hoo!" came the cry of excitement as the captain of the Straw-Hats came falling with the jellyfish, and smashed into the ground, leaving a crater where he landed. "Yo, Luke's mom!" He turned his bright smile on her, leaving her utterly dumbfounded.

"Wh-what. . ." She could barely compose her thoughts before a Luffy wrapped his arm around her and Luke several times.

"No time to talk," he grinned and giggled before looking longingly at the battle. "Man, I wanna fight, too."

"Don't get side tracked!" Zoro's voice called from the edge of the hole in the ceiling. "You can fight later!"

"Really?!" Luffy's excitement was back. "Yosh! Let's rescue Luke and Luke's mom then fight until we beat them all!"

"Wa-ai-ai-ttt!" Sarah screamed as they were rocketed up and out of the giant turtle shell. She screamed as they landed on top of the giant turtle shell. And she screamed as Luffy handed her off to one of the other crew members.

"I SAID STOP THAT!" Zoro yelled at her and Sarah finally closed her mouth and looked around, suddenly finding herself out in the open air and an annoyed Zoro covering his ears. Explosions from inside the turtle signaled their retreat.

"Come on," Zoro led the way, throwing Sarah over his shoulder and dragging Luffy away from the fight, who had Luke on his shoulders. . . now when did that happen? They hopped on the Mini Merry and headed back to the ship, guided by a couple of green jellyfish.

"So . . ." Sarah ventured as the giant turtle sunk below the surface and her heart started to return to it's normal rhythm. "What just happened?"

"It was awesome!" Luffy exclaimed. "There were the jellyfish and the turtle things and that big fat one too—"

"Just another day on an insane ship," Zoro sighed.

". . . This happens often?" Sarah said nervously.

"Regretting getting on?" Zoro smirked.

"And I thought _my_ life was exciting," Sarah laughed.

 **Oo-oO**

"See ya big fish guy!" Luffy waved as the Mother Snaperjaw led her army of green jellyfish back to the depths of the sea. "Thanks for the help!"

The Snaperjaw roared before it too disappeared into the ocean.

"Ah, that was fun," Luffy sighed. "Sanji food!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sanji said, heading toward the kitchen. "Go get everyone."

"Hai!" Luffy skipped off.

 **Oo-oO**

" _Drift and sway, though light may fade, the sea will carry on. Though tides may turn and troubles lurk, the sea is always strong."_

Sarah sang her lullaby as Luke drifted off to sleep.

 _"So rest, dear child, the water holds you in it's warm embrace. The dark will hide, the sun will rise, and you'll be on your way."_

Sarah smiled fondly as Luke's eyes fell shut and she stroked his dark hair. Quietly, she left the child to sleep in peace. As she closed the door, she noticed a figure sprawled out on the floor, a bubble coming out of his nose.

"Luffy?" Sarah nudged the sleeping form as he mumbled in his sleep. "Luffy!"

The bubble popped and the captain sat up. "Huh? Must have fell asleep."

"Odd place for a nap," Sarah chuckled.

"I heard you singing in there," Luffy said, grinning. "I stopped to listen, but then I got real sleepy."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. It seemed kind of familiar, like I'd heard that song before."

"Any idea where?"

"Hmm . . ." Luffy scrunched his face up in thought. "Feels like it was a real long time ago. I forgot! Oh well." Luffy started laughing and Sarah shook her head with a smile. Then Luffy's face lit up as he remembered. "Oh, that's right! Food! Come on, Sarah!"

"I'll be right there," Sarah laughed as he dashed away, and sobered as she glanced at the closed door behind her. "I'll always be there."

* * *

 **A/N** : Just a note, the next chapter the crew arrives at Firannial! I want to have most of the next part written before I start posting so it may be awhile until the next chapter is posted. Reviews, Favs an Follows always help speed the process along 3


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Hey look at that, I'm not dead! And guess what, I'm out of school, like, forever! So hopefully I'll be able to actually write now. Look forward to more updates and sorry for the long wait.

Also, as some may have noticed, this story now has a really crappy sketch of how I've imagined Firannial would look like. I'm sorry for the poor quality, but I don't really feel like making it better :P Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 _Several days of Travel Later_. . .

"I see it!" Luffy called from the figure head. "Firannial!"

Usopp rushed to the front of the ship and lowered his goggles to get a better look. "Holy crap! There's a giant tree growing out of a mountain!"

"Really?" Chopper asked, excitement growing. "I wanna see, let me see!" He climbed up on the rail and shielded his eyes against the sun. "Wow, it's ginormous."

"It's beautiful," Nami breathed as she took in the forest that covered island. In the middle was a giant rocky mountain with greenery creeping up the sides. And, like the boys said, there was a giant tree growing at the top of the mountain, bigger than anything she'd seen before. It had to be at least eighty feet tall and dwarfed anything else on the island. The forest was painted in colours of autumn, but the season was drawing to a close, and many trees had already shed their leaves to the changing weather, although it didn't feel especially cold at all. If anything, it felt almost hot.

The tree at the top of the mountain was one of the stubborn few that still held some leaves, they were an assortment of dark red and orange that mixed together to make it look like the tree was on fire when the wind rustled the branches.

"You think the Shining Rocks are really here?" Chopper asked.

"Who cares," Luffy said, bouncing where he sat. "I wanna climb that big tree."

"Luffy! We're not here to find another adventure," Nami scolded. "We've already got one, remember. We have to find the Shining Rocks and sell them to the highest bidder."

"But what about Sarah?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Nami pondered for a moment. "I guess we can spare a few."

"Witch! Nami's a witch," Usopp muttered and sidled away.

"Oh, are we here?" Zoro said sleepily from his spot on the deck.

"Hey Zoro, look at the big tree!" Luffy called to the swordsman. "Let's go climb it."

"Looks like a perfect place for a nap," Zoro examined it with a critical eye.

"You just woke up," Chopper pointed out.

"Idiots, the lot of them," Nami rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I don't see a pier at all," Usopp said. "Just sheer cliff all the way around. Don't see any sign of people either."

"Perhaps it's uninhabited," Robin said, coming up to take a look. "Or maybe there's a town located somewhere in the forest."

"Right," Nami said. "Then we'll need to do some exploring."

"Yay!" Luffy pumped a fist up in the air. "Adventure to climb the big tree!"

"Try to stay on track will you," Usopp slapped the air.

"Actually, we will need to climb the mountain," Nami said.

"We do?"

"Well, I'm assuming that this is the so called Shining Mountain. So, it stands to reason that if the Shining Rocks are here, they'd be at the top of the mountain."

"Looks like it'll be a long journey," Chopper said, looking at how high the mountain top was.

"Then we'll need a lot of provisions," Sanji said, stepping into the conversation. "Leave the supplies to me."

"Alright, so we'll split into two groups," Nami said. "One to climb the mountain and the other to explore the rest of the island. If there is a town here, then we'll need to gather information from the locals about the Mountain."

 **Oo-oO**

The crew agreed to split up to cover the entire island. The Forest Exploration Team included Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Brook, Sarah and little Luke. They would circle around the mountain looking for any inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Mountain Exploration Team consisting of Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Franky, would head directly to the Mountain and start climbing, in order to search for the Shining Rocks.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Forest Exploration Team: Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Brook, Sarah/Luke ~_

"Heh heh. I wonder what kind of herbs I'll find in this forest," Chopper smiled to himself as he walked through the trees, weaving around bushes and dead logs, crunching dead leaves beneath his feet.

"Just be careful you don't pick any poisonous mushrooms," Robin commented. "Or else we might die."

"I think I'll stick to herbs," Chopper muttered, casting his gaze around. "Huh, wait. Now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen any mushrooms since we started walking."

"Oh?"

Chopper examined one of the dead logs they were passing. "That's odd. The autumn is usually when mushrooms form to release their spores for the next year."

"So what does that mean?" Sanji asked examining the forest floor, a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to gather any edible mushrooms.

"It could mean that the fungi on this island don't operate on the same schedule that they normally would. Maybe they spread their spores at a different time of the year," Sarah said, Luke safely asleep in the sling on her back. "Or it could be that there simply aren't any species that would produce obvious fruiting structures."

"Oh, dear sweet Sarah is so smart that I couldn't understand a single thing you just said," Sanji swooned. "But I think I love you even more!"

"You seem to know quite a bit about this," Brook commented.

"Well, I mentioned that I used to travel around the East Blue, right? The main reason was to study and search for different kinds of plants and fungi," Sarah admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "It was kind of my thing. Forests are just so interesting. There's so much going on, but it always so quiet."

"I think you've just inspired me," Brook said, producing his violin. "The depth of the forest is infinite." He stuck a few chords and hummed a tune, working out some lyrics in his head.

"It's odd," Chopper spoke up.

"What is?" Sanji asked, looking down as Chopper rubbed his chin in thought.

"It's just, if there's so few mushrooms on this island, how is it that the forest floor is so clean?" he gestured to the ground. "There's barely any leaves or twigs, no old stumps or rotting logs."

Sarah kicked a log and rolled it over. "You're right. All these logs are dry and solid. If they're on the ground, they should be rotting. But they're not."

"So it's a strange forest," Sanji summarized.

"Fungi are the main components that breakdown dead matter in a forest," Sarah explained. "If there is so little fungi on this island, then where does all the dead plant material go?"

"Perhaps the plant life doesn't die as easily here," Robin suggested. "It would explain why there's so few logs."

"But there would still be years worth of leaves on the ground," Sarah reasoned, looking up at the trees that were mostly bare. "The trees would still lose their leaves every year."

"Like I said," Sanji puffed. "A strange forest. Kind of hot for this time of year, too."

"You're right," Brook said, looking up at the sun through the thinning canopy. "You'd think that with the autumn colours, the temperature would cool down. It almost feels like a summer island."

"Didn't Nami say it was supposed to be a spring island?" Chopper asked.

"Yes," Robin supplied. "It's said to have dramatic weather changes to go with the turning seasons."

"So what, it goes right from summer to winter?" Sarah asked. "Then what's the point of calling it a spring island?"

"Who can say? This _is_ the Grand Line after all." Robin wondered. "Shall we continue? Perhaps we will find some answers if we continue our exploration."

They continued on their path with Robin guiding the way. Sarah smiled as her observant eyes swept across the boreal forest that seemed to lack a key player in the natural order of things.

 _No rotting wood, no decomposition, yet so little debris . . ._

The pieces whirled around in her head as she followed behind the others. Her keen eyes swept up to what little leaves still clung to the trees in a myriad of colours and she thought she saw a black bulge on one of those branches. _Black knot?_ She thought, the image of the canker fungi coming to mind. Curious as to the origins, she absent-mindedly walked off the path. She barely had time to register the dry crackle beneath her feet before the large root she stepped on snapped and she found herself falling into the pit hidden beneath. Sarah screamed as she fell and the others stopped dead. After a moment of silence, they could hear Luke as he started to cry. Sanji was the first to move.

"Sarah!" he called out and easily found where she had gone. He peered into the deep hole and called out again. "Sarah!"

"I'm alright," a faint call came back.

The others caught up and gathered around. The pit was about fifteen feet deep and they could make out the faint shape of Sarah on the ground. She was untying the sling that held Luke, who kept crying.

"Strange place for a pitfall," Robin mused.

"It's not that far down," Sanji judged. He sat down on the edge, dangling his feet, then sprang down, landing softly beside Sarah.

"Sorry," she said, covered in a new layer of dirt. "I wasn't watching where I was going." She managed to undo the sling and wrapped Luke up in her arms, cooing and shushing him until he calmed down. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and hickuped before burying his face in her shoulder. He didn't seem to be hurt at all. "It's alright, big guy," she whispered to him. "It's alright."  
"Are you okay?" Sanji asked, giving her a once over.

"I'll be fine," Sarah brushed him off. "I'm not sure about Luke though. It doesn't look like he was hurt, but I couldn't see."

"We'll get Chopper to look at him," Sanji said. "You too. So, let's get you out of here." He reached out to help her up, but Sarah held Luke out to him.

"Luke first," she said in a no-nonsense mom voice. Luke's lip started to tremble and his eyes started to water again as he looked back at Sarah. "You'll be fine," she said as Sanji took him from her.

"Hey little guy," Sanji said, looking at the child uncertainly. He tucked him in the crook of his arm and bounded back up the hole on powerful legs.

Sarah marveled at Sanji's fluid movements for a moment, then turned her attention back to the hole she found herself in . . . more precisely, at the fact that it was more than a hole because it extended into a large, long tunnel that disappeared into the dark. She braced herself against the wall, stumbling when she put pressure on her right leg, and took a few steps down the tunnel.

But then Sanji jumped back down.

"It's a tunnel," Sarah smiled mischievously.

"So it is," Sanji stepped up beside her. "Where do you think it leads?"

"Probably no where," she answered. At his curious glance, she explained. "This tunnel looks like a burrow. Usually something structured like this would be made by bugs."

"Bugs . . ." Sanji's face went white.

"Beetles, usually. But it's too big for that," Sarah continued. "But then, I keep forgetting this is the Grand Line. Almost anything could have made this."

"Let's not stick around to find out," Sanji insisted with a twitch.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and her lips twitched with amusement when she noticed his nervousness at the mention of creepy-crawlies. She allowed herself to be picked up and brought out of the hole.

"Thanks," Sarah smiled at Sanji, who proceeded to fly away with love in his eyes, completely forgetting about the threat of giant bugs.

"Oh, anything for my dear, sweet Sarah!"

"Is Luke okay?" Sarah asked Chopper, who sat in front of the child.

"A few scrapes," the doctor reported. "I've already cleaned and bandaged them. He's gonna be just fine. It's your turn now." Chopper motioned for her to sit on a rock.

"I'm alright," Sarah tried to wave him off. "Really."

"I'll be the judge of that," Chopper said in his best doctor voice.

Sarah glanced around at the others before giving in and sat on the rock.

"You've got a nasty gash on your leg," Chopper reported, rolling up her pant leg. "I'll wrap and clean it for now, but I should take a better look at it when we get back to the ship. But it should be fine for now. How's it to walk on?"

"I can manage," Sarah smiled. "I've survived worse."

"The thought of you getting hurt has my heart in pieces," Sanji wept.

"I'm used to it. I used to get into quite a few scraps as a kid," she sighed. "My friends and I were downright terrors." She winced as Chopper dabbed antiseptic on the wound.

"I find that hard to believe," Brook mused. "How is it that you came to befriend such hooligans?"

"Hey," Sanji snapped, "Don't berate my sweet Sarah's friends!"

"No, no," Sarah laughed. "If anything, they'd be insulted to be considered hooligans. We preferred the term 'living nightmare'."

"You've caught me interest," Robin said.

"Well," Sarah said. "The guys didn't like it when people treated other people poorly. So we took it upon ourselves to teach the jerks a lesson . . . they never really learned though."

"It seems like I'm seeing a whole new side to you, Mrs. Sarah," Brook grinned. "Who would have thought such a sweet, young lady would have had such an exciting childhood."

"I think it's the only reason we've managed to stay alive up to this point," Sarah said, her gaze drifting to some un-seeable point through the trees.

Chopper tied off the bandage on Sarah's leg. "That should hold for now. Try not to put too much stress on it until I can treat it properly on the Sunny."

"Thank you, doctor," Sarah smiled at him.

Chopper blushed and ground a hoof into the ground. "Calling me doctor doesn't make me happy or anything, you jerk."  
"Come on," Robin urged, turning back to the path. "Now that this is settled, we should keep moving."

"Sorry for the trouble," Sarah bowed and took Luke back from Robin.

"No trouble at all," Chopper grinned up at her. "I'm just glad both of you weren't hurt too badly."

"Feel free to lean on me if your leg starts to hurt," Sanji called out.

"You're hopeless," Chopper muttered.

Robin chuckled behind a hand and they set out again. This time Sarah didn't lag behind and soon enough the throbbing in her leg blended into the forest's scenery.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mountain Exploration Team: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Franky ~_

"Come on, come on, let's go, let's go!" Luffy bounced up and down.

"Slow down!" Nami yelled at him as he sped off and raced through the trees. "The mountain's not going anywhere and the last thing we need is _you_ getting lost."

"Aw, come on," Luffy tried. "You can't go on an adventure without exploring."

"He's got a point there," Zoro chimed in.

"You're one to talk," Usopp scolded. "You get lost easier than he does."

"No one asked for your opinion," Zoro snapped, knowing there was no come back.

"Better pay attention," Franky pulled them back to the situation at hand. "Our captain's already getting into trouble."

Sure enough, Luffy had gone and managed to crawl through a hollow log and get stuck. Only, instead of backing out, he stretched himself until his torso was sticking out the other end. Luffy waved at the others with a stupid grin on his face, "Hey! Look what I got!"

"Seriously?" Nami face-palmed. "Not even off the ship for five minutes."

"The hell are you doing?" Zoro looked down at Luffy rolling around in his log.

"I saw this caterpillar-rabbit and when I chased it, it went into this log so I followed it and got suck," Luffy rambled. Zoro raised an eyebrow, but Luffy wasn't done. "But I managed to catch it! Look! It's a caterpillar-rabbit!"

Luffy shoved his fist in Zoro's face, and Zoro grimaced at the site of a foot-long caterpillar covered in fur with long rabbit ears and twelve rabbit paws.

"The hell is that supposed to be!" Zoro leaned away from the thing as it wiggled in his face.

"It's a caterpillar-rabbit, duh. Didn't you head what I just said."

"Enough," Nami frowned. "Put the weird thing down and let's get a move on."

"Aw, but why?" Luffy whined, somehow managing to stand up in the log. "I think he likes me." The creature wrapped itself around Luffy's wrist and rubbed its face against his arm. "See!"

"Ugh, whatever," Nami rolled her eyes. "Let's just go."

"Yeah!" Luffy jumped and pointed forward with the arm housing the creature.

The Mountain Exploration Team set off towards the Shining Mountain. From behind the group, a small sparrow watched from the branches of the almost bare autumn trees before taking off.

 **Oo-oO**

"Hey, looks at me! I'm Zoro!" Luffy posed with three sticks, the caterpillar-rabbit still coiled around his arm and was looking around curiously. "Three Sword Style . . . Slicing Chop!" Luffy flailed his sticks around, showing off the extent of his swordsmanship and leaving Usopp rolling on the ground in laughter.

"Three Sword Style . . . Spinning Kick!"

"You're not even using the swords anymore!" Zoro snapped.

Now Nami and Franky were laughing too and Usopp had completely lost it. Zoro eyed everyone with distain, then faster than anyone could track, he drew one of his swords and reduced Luffy's sticks to splinters before sheathing it again.

"Hey!" Luffy pouted.

"Three-hee-hee Sword Style," Usopp giggled, now with sticks of his own.

Zoro growled and slowly re-drew his sword, letting the metal grind against the sheath and his murderous aura seep out.

"Uh oh," Usopp let the sticks fall to the ground and ran away screaming.

"Get back here!" Zoro roared and took off after him.

"Hey, wait for me!" Luffy followed. "I wanna have fun too!"

"Morons," Nami said, trying to contain her mirth. "I told them not to get lost."

"Looks like the trees thin out up ahead," Franky pointed out in the direction they had headed. "Should be easy to spot."

"That's if Zoro can manage to walk in a straight line for more than five feet."

Sure enough, the forest fell away, opening up to a large field of what looked like farm land. Scattered around were large piles of colourful leaves and other forest debris. The boys hadn't gotten too far and Zoro was standing over the fallen bodies of Usopp and Luffy, each sporting new lumps on their heads.

"Oh, you caught up," Zoro greeted Franky and Nami.

"So did you, apparently," Franky crouched down to examine Zoro's handy work.

"Uh . . . guys," Nami said, nervously. "We might have a problem."

They turned to see a handful of people approaching them, holding various farming tools like weapons and bearing down on them menacingly. But one thing stood out about these people.

". . . Cat ears?"

* * *

 **A/N** : Well, that's it for now, but I've got a lot written for this entire arc, I just have to piece it all together.

Thanks guys and don't forget to fav/follow and leave a review!


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Wow, guys. So many new favs/follows! You're all awesome!

*May 31/17 UPDATE*

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 _~ Forest Exploration Team: Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Brook, Sarah/Luke ~_

 _"Forest swing, forest shake, forest rock and forest quake. Come alive. Raise your voice. Move your leaves. Make some noise!"_ Brook sung as they walked through the forest.

 _"I~~~nfanite!_

 _"The forest is i~~~~nfanite!_

 _"Forest ladies are i~~~~~nfanite!_

 _"My love is i~~~~~nfanite!"_

Sarah found herself humming along to the simple tune and soon felt the movements as Luke bounced in his sling. She was surrounded by trees, the air was warm, the canopy was full of colours that danced around her in the wind and the sound of rushing water blended in with the song. Sarah was in her element, and for the first time in months, she was able to fully appreciate it.

They broke through the tree line and were met by the source of running water. A great river meandered over the landscape, running from the top of the giant mountain to the sea, splitting the island in two.

"Now that's a river," Sanji awed.

"The water's so clear," Robin mused.

"Kinda makes you want to just jump right in," Sarah crouched down and dipped her hand in the cool water. Luke squawked and reached over her shoulder, wanting to join in the fun too.

"Ugh, I think I'll have to pass on that one," Chopper slouched.

"I gotta agree with you there," Brook chimed in.

"Oh yeah," Sarah said, letting Luke out of the sling to splash his hands in the water. "I guess having Devil Fruit powers has its down sides too."

"Wah, it looks so fun," Brook said as Luke splashed around.

"Careful you don't fall in," Robin warned lightly. "The current could pull you out to sea."

"Scary!" Chopper exclaimed and hid behind Sanji's leg. "Water's scary!"

"Allow me to join you," Brook said politely, then grabbed onto Sanji's other leg. "Scary!"

"Get off of me!" Sanji tried to shake them off.

Sarah and Robin giggled at their antics as the boys' screams drifted playfully across the river. Luke clapped his hands in the water, giving Sarah a lap-full of water.

"Alright," Sarah said, pulling him away from the river. "That's enough of that." She dried his little hands on her shirt as he started to kick up a fuss, not wanting to go back into the confines of the sling. "Oh, it's gonna be like that, is it?" Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Allow me," Robin smiled. A pair of hands bloomed out of the ground and picked Luke up. The fussing disappeared instantly as he inspected the arms, then more arms appeared and he started giggling as Robin passed him around.

Chopper and Brook flopped on the ground as Sanji finally managed to shake them off. "We should keep going," Sanji said, scanning along the river. "There's a bridge, we can cross over there."

"Shall we?" Robin knelt next to her fallen comrades. All she received in response was a pair of groans.

Sarah started to pick herself up, but halfway up, she felt her foot slip on the wet mud. She flailed her arms as she started to fall into the river. She felt the cold chill of the water splash up her leg, but then Sanji was there, holding her arm to steady her.

"Careful," he warned with a charming smile.

"Sorry," Sarah blushed with embarrassment. "I'm so clumsy today."

"Your pants got wet," he pointed out where her right leg was soaked up to the knee.

"Eh, they were kind of dirty anyway," Sarah tried shaking some of the water off. "Let's go."

"Anything you say my love!" Sanji flourished.

As the water soaked through the bandage on Sarah's leg, the group started on their way again.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mountain Exploration Team: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Franky ~_

"State your business," one of the cat-eared people demanded. It was an older woman in an old-fashioned dress and a no non-sense look about her. Around her were ten or so other cat-eared peopled, all on edge and holding various pieces of farming equipment like they would attack at any moment of provocation.

Nami and Usopp took a couple of steps back, Franky clenched his fists and Zoro loosened one of his swords with his thumb. Luffy took the initiative and stepped forward. "We're hear to climb the mountain," he said simply.

"The mountain . . ." the cat-ear lady said, her ears twitched in surprise.

"Rosa, look," one of the other cat-ear people said, pointing to Luffy. More specifically at the caterpillar-rabbit that was still attached to his arm. "The Slyr." The car-ear people awed and whispers rose among those gathered. "The Slyr only befriends those who are pure of heart. Those with ill intentions would never get away unharmed."

"It seems you don't bare any ill will," the cat-ear lady said. "Our apologies."

"That's okay," Luffy grinned and giggled to himself, not bothering to question the sudden change in ideals.

"A bit over kill for a couple of travelers," Nami commented, suspiciously.

"We are not used to outsiders on this half of the island," the cat-eared lady said. "Most sea-goers weigh anchor at the port and stay within the confines of the wall."

"So, there _is_ a port here!" Usopp said incredulously. "We thought the island was deserted."

The cat-eared lady frowned. "I see you aren't familiar with out island."

"We just got here," Luffy said. "Hey, are your ears real?"

"What?" the lady asked in confusion.

"Luffy!" Nami smacked him.

"In any case, why don't you come with me and I'll tell you about this island," the cat-ear lady said.

"That'd be great!" Nami flourished. "We have some questions about the Mountain, too."

"Your questions will be answered," the cat-ear lady nodded and turned to the others gathered about. "Everyone else, back to work. We must finish before the final leaves fall from the Watching Tree."

The other cat-eared people set out about the fields and started gathering material from the piles of leaves and spreading it around the empty fields.

"What are they doing?" Franky asked. "Uh, what was your name again?"

The cat-eared lady smiled, "You can call me Rosa. As for what the others are doing, the dead plant life will become nutrients to fertilize our soils for the next growing season. These last few years have been hard on our lands and not much has been able to grow, so we must take every measure to make sure our fields can produce the next season."

"Hey, Nami," Luffy prodded. "Can we climb the mountain now, I wanna see the big tree up close."

"Not yet, we need to find out a little more about this place before we go off and get into trouble," Nami scolded.

"Boring!" Luffy slouched.

Then a young voice called out. "Outsiders should just leave!" The group turned to face the boy, around 14-years-old with light brown hair and ears, glaring at them with distrust.

"Calm yourself, Mateo," Rosa scolded. "These people mean no harm."

"We thought the last bunch of outsiders meant no harm, too," the boy burst out. "How can we be sure these people aren't the same!?"

"Mateo," Rosa tried to reason with him. "The Slyr has shown them to bare no ill will."

"So you're going to trust some stupid creature before common sense—OW!"

A man with black ears appeared behind the boy, giving him a good smack on the head. "Enough, Mateo. Go cool off," he ordered the boy coolly. The man stood tall above the boy with a hard face and a stance that wouldn't accept "no" for an answer.

The boy glared at the new man, fists clench and it looked like he wanted to argue back. After a moment of contemplation, the boy turned and ran off into the woods.

Rosa and the black-eared man watched him go before sharing a sad sigh.

"Greyson," Rosa turned to the man. "What brings you here?"

"The Shah would like to see the Outsiders," the black-eared man said plainly, then turned to the pirates. "Follow me."

"Uh . . ." Nami looked around, gaining a nod from Rosa. "Okay."

"Who's this Shah guy?" Usopp asked as the black-eared man led the way past the farming fields.

"The Shah is the Shah," Greyson responded.

"Real helpful," Usopp said, deadpan.

"Don't mind Greyson," Rosa said. "He's not much for conversation. He's more of a man of action. The Shah is like our leader, he manages the village, makes sure everyone's comfortable. He'll be able to answer any questions you have."

"And how did he know we were here? I mean, we only got here like, five minutes ago."

"One of our scouts probably spotted you in the forest and went on ahead to warn the others. If it wasn't for your Slyr friend, you would have been attacked by our fighters."

"What d'ya know," Franky smiled. "Luffy did something helpful. . . Hey, where'd he go?"

"What?" They looked around, noticing that Luffy was, in fact, missing from their group.

"That idiot!" Nami exploded.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mateo_ ~

"Stupid Rosa. Stupid Greyson. Stupid Outsiders," Mateo ranted as he dodged around trees as he raced farther into the forest.

"Hey! Where ya going?" Luffy called out, running along side the boy.

"Gah! Outsider!" Mateo stumbled, not knowing how he didn't see the guy there earlier. Luffy chuckled and kept up with the boy's pace. Mateo glared back at the Outsider with the funny hat and leapt up into the trees, nimbly bouncing from one branch to the next.

"Wow, he's fast!" Luffy awed. He stretched an arm up into the trees and started swinging from tree to tree, keeping up with the kid. The kid looked back, and was surprised when he saw that Luffy was still keeping pace. He fell back to the ground and started dodging around trees and boulders, he tried kicking fallen branches in his path and losing him by leaping into the trees and back to the ground, but he couldn't seem to shake the Outsider, no matter how fast he went. Finally, Mateo stopped, panting hard and glared as the outsider slid to a stop a few feet away laughing.

"Ha ha ha, that was fun. You're pretty fast," Luffy smiled.

"What do you want?! Stop following me!"  
"Aw, come on. I just wanna have some fun too!"

"Just go away!" Mateo yelled. "I don't care what the Slyr thinks, all Outsiders are nothing but bad news!"

"How can you say that?" Luffy pouted. "You don't even know me."

"I don't need to! I just know you're nothing but trouble!"  
Luffy watched the kid for a moment, the burst out laughing. "Well I do get into a lot of trouble!"

Mateo was at a loss for words, watching this guy laugh even after he's told he's not welcome.

After a moment of mirth, Luffy sobered some and waved to the kid, "This was fun, let's play again sometime." Then he started to walk away.  
"Where do you think your going?" Mateo called after him.

"To climb the mountain," Luffy grinned over his shoulder. "I wanna go all the way to the top of that big tree!"

"The Mountain?! Bu-but the Guardians will kill you."

"Guardians? What are Guardians?"

"They're the giant beasts that protect the mountain. They kill anyone who tries to climb to the top!"

"Sounds like fun!"

"Are you crazy?"

"No~," Luffy said defensively. "But I am pretty strong."

"No one's stronger than the Guardians."

"Guess we'll just have to find out." With that Luffy skipped away, walking toward the mountain, humming some random tune he probably just made up.

Mateo stared after him until he disappeared through the trees and foliage. Then he felt the anger built up inside him. "Fine! Just die!"

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mountain Exploration Team: Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Franky ~_

Greyson led the group past the farmland and into a small village, while Rosa had stayed at the farm to help with spreading the leaves.

"This is the Toms Village," Greyson said, leading them down the main path. The village was composed of a couple of rows of huts made out of stone and mud. There were other cat-eared people around, carrying baskets of what looked like wheat or nuts, some were smoking meat over half a dozen fires, there was even a group of women sitting in a circle weaving blankets with intricate designs. Even more people were carting around crates full to the brim and bringing them into the largest building in the village that was made with stones cut so perfectly that they fit together without the need of any sort of adhesive.

The gaze of every cat-eared person was drawn to the group of Outsiders being led through the streets. It seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as Greyson led them up to one of the huts that didn't stand out from the rest in any way.

"Greyson, who do we have here?" a white-haired Tom asked, coming up beside the group with weary eyes.

"The Outsiders that were reported," Greyson replied. "One of them has befriended a Slyr."

"A Slyr?" The white-haired Tom's eye brows rose in astonishment and the weariness disappeared.

"The Shah has expressed his wish to speak to them."

"I suppose he would want to," the white-haired Tom looked over the group. "Come along then, I was just going to see him in any case."

"In here," Greyson beckoned them in through the door which consisted of only a piece of hand woven cloth, sporting the design of a mountain with a giant tree. They all entered the humble hut and into a room with a large stone table. Sitting at the table was a middle-aged man with greying ears. He wore a plain brown garb and had his long hair tied in a low ponytail.

"Eban," the Tom at the table greeted his white-haired friend. "What brings you here?"

"Just reporting on the villages progress," the white-haired Tom said. "But that can wait for now. It looks like there's more important things to discuss."

The Tom sitting at the table looked past Eban and took in the group of pirates. "Indeed."

"This is the Shah," Greyson introduced as the pirates filed in.

The Shah nodded to the newcomers. "Welcome," he said. "Please, take a seat." While everyone was getting settled, Greyson went and stood behind the Shah and Eban sat beside him. "Now, I understand that you have befriended a Slyr?"

"Well, not us exactly," Usopp said. At the Shah's frown, he elaborated. "It was our captain that the caterpillar-rabbit thingy attached itself too. But then he took off the minute we turned our backs."

"Sounds troubling," the Shah commented politely.

"Immensely," Nami said and got straight to business. "Now, I assume you wanted to talk to us for a reason?"

"Yes," the Shah said. "I do."

"So, what's all this about?" Nami continued.

"I like this one," Eban smiled. "Gets right down to business."

"You see, we have learned the hard way to be weary of strangers," the Shah said, ignoring his friend. "I want to confirm that your intentions will not bring harm to my people."

"If that's all," Usopp said. "We're looking for something. We think it might have something to do with your mountain."

"The Mountain?" The Shah questioned. "What is it that you seek?"

"The Shining Rocks, have you heard of them? We need them to help our friend get back home."

"Hm . . ." the Shah glanced up at Greyson, silently asking for his input. Greyson shook his head. "I have not heard tell of such Rocks. Eban?"

"Been along time since I've hear tell of any ancient stories of the Mountain. . ." Eban said. "But I don't remember any mention of Shining Rocks."

"Is it possible that the Rocks might be at the top of the Mountain?"

"Who can say," the Shah shrugged. "It has been many generations since anyone has ventured up the mountain."

"No one?" Franky asked. "Why not?"

"That would be because of the Guardians. Great beasts that nest upon the mountain's ledges. They attack anyone who disturbs them. All who have been foolish enough to try and climb the mountain were never seen again. Only a bloody piece of clothing was ever recovered. I suggest you don't even try to climb the Mountain."

"Giant guardian monsters that will kill us if we climb the freaky mountain . . . hmm. . . Hey guys, here's a thought. Why don't we listen to him?" Usopp tried. "I mean, by the sounds of it, the Rocks that we're looking for probably aren't even up there. . . right?" He could tell none of them were buying it. ". . . right?"

"You really think that some beast is gonna stop Luffy?" Zoro questioned, leaning back in his chair.

"Sword-bro's got a point there," Franky grinned.

Usopp conceded. "Oh, what's the point. He's probably already half way up the Mountain by now."

"I would hope not," the Shah frowned.

"Don't worry about it," Nami said, waving away his concerns. "He can take care of himself. But what I want to know about is the Mountain. Okay, so no one's been up there in forever, but you have to know something."

"You wish to know about the mountain," the Shah smiled. "Then let me tell you first where it gets its name. One a year, when the final leaves fall from the Watching Tree, the Mountain shines brightly and begins the cycle of rebirth. The light descends from the Mountain to the land and starts the Great Fire that then sweeps across the island, turning what's dead into the ash that will fertilize our soils for the next growing season."

"Wait, so there's a fire every year? That's impossible," Nami said. "Does that mean the trees grow that big on only one year?"

"Things that still hold life will not be burned," the Shah explained. "Only that which is dead will be returned to the earth. The trees are not harmed by the Mountain's fires."

"So, the trees are fire-proof?" Franky asked. "How's that work?"

"I suggest you ask Rosa if you are curious about such things. She's most knowledgeable about agriculture and the forest life. I could never wrap my head around the more intricates of her science."

"Wait, you said the fire starts when all the leaves fall . . . isn't that soon!" Usopp asked, suddenly finding it appropriate to panic.

"Yes, it should be sometime within the week. That is why the villagers are so busy preparing."

"What do you do during the fire?"

"There is a series of tunnels beneath the earth that were created long ago by large burrowing creatures. We take refuge for a week's time until the fires die and the snow falls, thus beginning the winter season. But there's a lot to do to prepare. As you've seen, the fields have to be tended to, food must be readied, and all belongings that would not survive the fire must be taken into the tunnels."

"Is that where all those people were bringing things?"

"That's right," Eban jumped in. "Our entrance to the tunnels is within the Trial Hall, the largest building in our village."

"That's fascinating," Nami awed. "The fires coincide with the changing seasons, or could the fires be causing the seasons to change? Wait, how is a Mountain able to start a fire in the first place? How does it even produce light?"

"Only the Mountain knows," the Shah smiles kindly to her. "Many of the legends have been lost to time, most likely destroyed when we moved out of the Mountain."

"You used to live in the Mountain?"

"Many generations ago, yes. There are tales of a grand cathedral carved out of the stone near the summit, and there are a few chambers at the base, but all have been abandoned."

"Robin would be all into this," Usopp said.

"Another friend of yours?" The Shah asked.

"Yeah, our crew actually split up when we got here. The other group is circling around the island to see if it's inhabited. Guess they went the wrong way."

"Circled around? You mean they headed to the north side of the island?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Well then they may find what they are looking for," the Shah said cryptically and looked knowingly at Eban.

"That's right, Rosa mentioned that there was a port on the other side of the island," Nami said.

"Yes, but the ones who keep the port are a separate people than our own," the Shah said, his expression becoming sad. "They are known as the Tykes."

At the mention of the other people, Greyson scoffed. "Excuse me," he said. "I must continue my patrols." He left the room suddenly, the cloth door swinging behind him.

"Well that was odd," Usopp mumbled.

"You must forgive him," the Shah sighed. "You see, we Toms have never been on good terms with the Tykes. We stay separate, out of each others business."

"Something happen between you?" Franky asked bluntly.

"We have history, yes," the Shah answered. "Always fighting like cats and dogs. Five years ago, the fighting reached it's peak. I though for sure we would end up wiping each other out. . ."

The Shah trailed off and both he and he seemed to lose himself in his own thoughts.

"Well," Nami asked after a few moments of silence. "What happened?"

The Shah snapped out of his daze for a moment and narrowed his eyes. "Outsiders came to this island and threw everything into turmoil. Because of them, a great tragedy occurred but they also raised the wall that now separates our people. They may have stopped the fighting, but they have caused us a great pain."

"I suppose that would explain why you're all so weary of outsiders," Zoro spoke up for the first time. "That kid, too. He seemed especially troubled."

"I presume you're referring to Mateo," the Shah asked.

"Yeah, that's what Rosa called him," Nami said.

"He's my son," the Shah said with a sad smile. "And he's probably one of the people who suffered the most because of what the Outsiders did all that time ago."

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mateo ~_

Mateo reached the base of the Shining Mountain and took a cursory look around before he started climbing. About ten feet up, he pulled himself up onto a ledge and disappeared into a cavern.

The cave was dark and dry. He kicked up dust and dirt with every step and numerous sets of footprints could be seen coming and going, all belonging to himself, because no one else knew that this tunnel existed. He stopped at a crack in the wall, barely visible with what light filtered in through the entrance. Reaching in, he pulled out one of several torches and lit it with a flint.

Torch in hand and all his problems far behind, Mateo disappeared into the labyrinth of caverns that he knew so well. Ten minutes later, he sat in the darkness of the cavern with only his little torch to light the space. He sat on a rock near the only body of water within the mountain and listened as the steady stream fell into the pool and washed away beneath the rock, he assumed that it emptied into the Mine River and eventually goes out to sea.

This was their meeting place, always had been. Only, the one he was supposed to meet had failed to show up. . . _again_. Mateo growled and threw a rock into the pond. Then his expression softened and he drew his knees up to his chest. "Come on, Ryker," he whispered to the darkness. "Where are you?"

It had been three days since his best friend had failed to show up. The first day was nothing. There've been many times when one or the other hadn't been able to sneak off into the mountain. The second day, he was a little put off, but didn't think too much of it. It was, after all, a busy time of year. But now, three days? Mateo was beginning to feel the seclusion sinking in. The same feeling that would pop up every now and then since . . . since Emerson.

Mateo pressed his palms into his eyes as the memories came flooding back. His father had said that Emmy would come back, but he never did. "Why did you have to leave, brother?"

* * *

 **A/N:** In case I haven't mentioned it before, be sure to leave a review! Tell me what you like, what you hate, what made you laugh or how stupid you think it is. Love hearing from you all. It also helps me pump out chapters faster!


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Hey Sarah, what's wrong? Oh . . . Oh, crap!

*UPDATE May 31/17*

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

~ _Forest Exploration Team: Robin, Sanji, Chopper, Brook, Sarah/Luke ~_

Sanji climbed up in a tree to scout out ahead. "Hey, there's something over there," Sanji called. He dropped down to tell the others. "It looks like a wall of some sort. Guess that means there are people here after all."

"Great!" Chopper bounced. "We get to meet new people."

"I wonder what sort of ladies they have there," Brook mused.

"I like the way you think, Brook," Sanji smirked.

"Hm," Robin chuckled and bounced Luke in her arms as the child giggled and waved around his little bronze dragon that Sarah had produced from her bag.

One foot in front of the other. Step, step, ste—stumble. Sarah caught herself on a tree. Chopper looked up at her with a concerned expression.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just tripped," she smiled down at him. Chopper frowned back, his eyes flicking to the bandaged wound on her leg, before meeting her eyes questioningly again. "It's just a little sore."

"You're breathing is heavy," he observed and pulled her down to eye level. "And your pupils are dilated."

"Has something come up?" Robin called.

"I think Sarah's coming down with something," Chopper called back and had Sarah sit with her back to the tree she was leaning on.

"What?! My sweet Sarah is sick?" Sanji was there instantaneously. "You can rest your head on my lap if you need to."

Chopper ignored everything and unwrapped the bandage on her leg. "What!" he exclaimed when he saw the wound. It had been less than an hour since he'd cleaned it, but it was already pussing and turning an odd shade of brown. "I never seen an infection set in this fast. Hold on, I need to clean it again and apply some anti-biotics." Chopper set to work on his first aid.

"I'm sorry," Sarah panted, suddenly feeling a heat flush her face. "I didn't realize it was that bad."

"Nothing you can do about that now," Chopper said, not breaking his pace. "Just make sure to speak up if anything else changes."

"In that case," Sarah cringed as the antiseptic cleaned away the puss. "I think my leg is going numb. It's getting harder to move it, too."

"That definitely sounds like something you should have mentioned before!" Chopper scolded. He rolled up more of her pant leg and winced at the long brown lines creeping up her leg. "The infection's gotten into your blood stream and seems to be causing some sort of paralysis. Can you feel this?" He prodded her leg.

"A little," Sarah responded, then cringed when he moved. "Oh, that hurts."

"I'll give you a shot of antibiotics," Chopper repeated. "But I need to treat you properly."

"The ship is on the other side of the island, though," Sanji said, casting his eyes back the way they came, as if it held an answer.

"Maybe the people behind the wall will have adequate medical facilities," Robin said.

"It's our best bet," Chopper said, administering the shot. "I don't like how fast this is spreading, so we better hurry."

Sanji helped Sarah up to her feet. She tried walking again, but Chopper stopped her. "You shouldn't walk, it'll only make the infection spread even faster."

"Allow me, my dear," Sanji bowed and swept her up in his arms with big pink hearts in his eyes.

"Sorry," she apologized, but it went unheard as Sanji sprang forward.

"Onward!" He called and the others followed as he set the pace toward the wall. Luke peeked over Robin's shoulder at Sarah cradled in Sanji's arms. She saw him watching and smiled and waved to him. He giggled and reached for her, waving his little dragon around, somehow managing to not whack Robin in the face.

It wasn't long before they came level with the wall. The forest fell away to the twenty-foot tall wall that stretched all the way along the island, with no breaks, splitting is as completely as the river did.

"There's got to be a way in there," Chopper said, looking forlornly at the solid looking wall.

"It's too high to jump," Sanji grumbled and began to get worried. Sarah rested her head against his chest, her eyes closed and her face flushed. Her breathing seemed to hitch but she didn't complain.

Robin opened her eyes, extra limbs disappearing in a puff of petals. "There doesn't seem to be an entrance along the wall."

"Damnit, there has to be something," Sanji growled, then looked at the wall with a new expression. He gently handed Sarah over to Brook.

"What are you. . ." Sarah started to ask, as Brook accepted her without question.

Sanji pulled out his lighter and lit a cigarette. He took a deep breath and inspected the wall for the best place and blew out the smoke slowly. Then, clenching on his cig with his teeth, he bound forward forcefully and drove his foot into the wall, putting all his power behind one kick, after all, a lady's heath in at stake. He landed lightly on both feet and for a moment nothing happened. Sanji turned his back to the wall and hole exploded where he'd kicked it.

"Found a shortcut," he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

Past the wall was a large, open space and in the distance was what looked like a large, bustling town.

"Guess we found civilization," Brook said.

"Look, there's a small hut over there," Chopper pointed to a small house set apart from the others. "Maybe we can find help there."

Sarah moaned and her legs twitched. "It hurts," she mumbled and fidgeted.

"We have to hurry," Chopper said, taking off ahead of the others in Walking Point. He reached the house first and, transforming into Heavy Point, pounded on the door. "Hey, is anyone home! We need help!"

After a moment, the door flew open to a man wearing a weird floppy hat. "What's wrong?" the old man asked, urgently.

"My friend is sick, do you where we can find a good medical facility?" Chopper said, tumbling over his words as the others caught up.

That's when the old man truly looked at Chopper and scanned the rest of the group and his eyes narrowed. "You're not from around here, otherwise you'd know that this is the best healing hut on this side of the island. Quickly now, inside, inside."

The old man ushered them in and had Brook lay Sarah out on a bed in the back room. Chopper helped the old man tend to Sarah, showing him her infection.

" _Trixadechia_ ," the old man said and turned to a shelf full of vials with different coloured liquids.

"What?" Chopper asked, confused.

"It's a bacterium that thrives in the Mine River," he said, preparing a shot and injecting it directly into Sarah's leg. "After inoculation, it takes root fast. Spreads through the blood stream and inhibits muscle contractions. Pretty much paralyses the body wherever it spreads. If it's not stopped, it'll paralyze the heart or the lungs, and death comes shortly after that. Whole thing hurts like a mother, I'm surprised your friend here has been able to keep it together like she has."

"Sarah. . ." Chopper mumbled, resting his chin on her bed.

"She'll be fine," the old man said, reassuringly. "She'll have to rest until the bacteria gets flushed out of her system, but she'll pull through. You're lucky, it's quite a common infection around here. Most homes carry a stock of the remedy."

"Thank you, sir," Chopper smiled up at the old man.

"You can call me Arlo," the old man said. "And you?"

"My name's Chopper," he held out a hoof to shake hands. "Nice to meet you."

"Now, let's let your friend rest," Arlo said and they moved into the main room where the others waited.

"Is my dear Sarah alright!?" Sanji pounced with tears in his eyes, biting on his shirt.

"She's going to be just fine," Arlo repeated. "She can rest here until she's ready to venture out again."  
A child's crying drew their attention.

"Hush now, little one," Robin soothed, trying to calm Luke down but he was having none of it, pushing away his toy dragon that she offered to him. "Seems like he misses Mrs. Sarah."

"Luke-san, look over here," Brook taunted, sticking his face up to Luke. "Peek-a-boo!" He revealed a face with menacing shadows that looked more like death than a child's game. Luke started crying louder.

"You're not helping!" Sanji smacked him.

"My, my, so noisy," Arlo said. He opened an old chest tucked in the corner and presented a small wooden rattle to the child. He shook it a little, gaining Luke's attention. Luke looked at the rattle, his eyes following it back and forth as Arlo shook it. He didn't smile, but he reached out to grab it. Arlo let him take it from his hand and Luke settled down in Robin's arms, shaking the rattle softly, still not smiling.

"It belonged to my grandson," Arlo explained. "Though that was a long time ago now."

"Ah, now that I look closer," Brook said, examining Arlo's floppy hat. "Are those . . . dog ears?"

"I suppose they are," Arlo smiled mischievously. "All of us Tykes got 'em."

"Tykes?" Robin inquired.

"That's what we call those of us on the north side of the island. If you go south, you'll come across the Tom's," Arlo explained. "They all have cat ears. It's not too hard to see that we don't like each other very much." The man laughed at his own joke, but it seemed hollow. "Always fighting."

"Sounds like you've got an interesting history," Robin said.  
"Interesting is one word for it," Arlo gruffed. "Avoidable is another, but don't mind me. I'm just the old coot that got kicked to the outskirts of town."

"How long will Sarah need to rest until she's well enough to walk around on her own?" Sanji asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, that depends on her," Arlo said, seemingly glad for the change of topic. "By my estimates, she should be fine by nightfall. You're free to stay the night, or you can try to find an inn in town, shouldn't be too hard this time of—"

 _BANG BANG BANG!_  
"Arlo! I know you're in there!" A voice yelled from the door.

"What do they want now?" Arlo huffed, his face falling into a grouchy frown. He whipped open the door. "What? Oh, it's you, Travis."

"The wall was breached! There are intruders. You're not hiding Toms in there, are you?" An aggressive Tyke sporting pointy, black dog ears demanded. He was dressed in hardened leather and had a short sword strapped to his waist. Two more soldiers were standing behind him.

"The hell do you take me for," Arlo snapped back at the soldier. "I'm not hiding no Toms, only patients! Now you get out of here before I get my staff."

"Old man, if I find that you've got a hand in this—"

"Bite your tongue boy. I know how things work around here."

Back inside, Luke started crying again. The soldier, Travis, looked inside suspiciously before pushing past Arlo and barging into the room . . . and right into Sanji's foot. Travis fell to the floor holding his face as Sanji lit up a new smoke.

"Be a little more considerate," Sanji said coolly. "A lady is resting in the other room."

The other two soldiers stood dumbly in the doorway beside Arlo, who just looked plain impressed. Travis lay on the floor, holding his nose and picked himself up. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"We're pirates," Sanji stated, firmly. "And if you want a fight, I'll be happy to give it to you." The other Straw-Hats stood at this, all ready for a fight if it should come to that. Even Luke seemed to quite down and shook his rattle angrily.

"Were you the ones who broke the wall?" Travis demanded, from his position on the floor, failing for the intimidation he was going for.

"Who knows?" Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke. "What if we did?"

"We can't let you get away with breaching our defenses," Travis drew his sword and pointed it at Sanji. Sanji grinned and tapped his toe on the ground.

But he was beaten to the punch.

A _whoosh_ of wind, and a hard clunk had the pointy, black-eared Tyke sprawled out on the floor again, this time fully unconscious. Arlo clacked the end of his staff on the ground and glared at the other two soldiers who had been silent until then.

"Sorry, Arlo," one apologized. "You know how excitable he can be."

"Just get him out of here," Arlo huffed and leaned his staff against the wall before falling back into a rocking chair. "There's been enough excitement for one day."

"Sorry for the disturbance," the other soldier rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment. "Hope your comrade gets well soon." Then they dragged Travis out by his arms and left.

The door clicked shut and Arlo sighed. "I though for sure they were looking for Ryker again."

"Ryker?" Chopper asked.

"Yes, my grandson," Arlo said. "He's assigned to watch duty on the wall, but he prefers to do other things. Those bozos are always banging on my door, demanding where the little bugger is. Like I would know."

"You don't know where your own grandson is?"

"Oh, he's somewhere," Arlo said, with a fond smile. "That boy loves to explore. He can navigate this entire island, even the Tom's side, dare I say. He's always off on his own adventures, finding his fun where he can. Sometimes he disappears for days at a time, always coming back with the best stories." Arlo gazed off into the distance. "But enough about that, what's this about you breaking through the wall?"

"Well, it was in the way, so we broke," Sanji said simply.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Huh," Arlo absorbed this then chuckled. "So much for being impenetrable."

 **Oo-oO**

~ _Luffy~_

Luffy stood grinning at the base of the mountain, a wall of sheer rock in front of him. From way above, he could make out the branches of the giant tree and watched as a big red leaf was torn away by the wind.

"Hee hee hee," he giggled, hands on his hips. "This is gonna be awesome! . . . Wait, weren't we supposed to do something? . . . Aw well, who cares. Imma climb a big tree!" He grinned and tickled the caterpillar-rabbit that was still wrapped around his arm. "Ready?"

The Slyr purred and nuzzled his finger. "Then let's go!"

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mateo ~_

Enough was enough, and if Ryker wasn't going to show up, he'd go by himself. They were supposed to explore the upper caverns before Ryker went MIA, and Mateo had been looking forward to this trek for years.

The two of them had been spelunking in these caves for a long time, ever since the incident that split the island. The Tykes and the Toms may always be fighting, but that hadn't stopped Mateo and Ryker from sneaking off to play with each other. They couldn't hang out in the open like they used to, so now they explore the twisting passages and caverns of the Shining Mountain with only their small torches to light their way.

It wasn't long after they began mapping out the tunnels that they found it; a cave leading further up the mountain. And it wasn't like the rest of the caves; this one was marked. Squiggly lines and symbols ran around the entrance to this path and the floor looked a little smoother too.

Mateo remembered the moment he first found it.

. . .

 _"Hey Ryker, look at this. This cave is different. It's got drawings on it."_

 _"Looks like the symbols our ancestors used to use."_

 _"Wow, you can tell?"_

 _"Chi-chan told me about them."_

 _"Your grandpa's real smart. So what do they say?"_

 _"W-well, I can't really read them. Chi-chan said that no one can read them because everyone who knew how to died a long time ago."_

 _"Eh? Well . . . Well, I know what it says!"_

 _"Liar!"_

 _"Am not! They say that there's treasure ahead! Come on!"_

 _"Wait up Matty!"_

 _"Hey, this way goes up farther. Maybe we can reach the top of the Mountain."_

 _"We'd be the first ones up there in forever!"_

 _And up they went. The path twisted and turned, but continued to incline at a steady rate. There were a few branching paths, but they only led to small empty rooms. Even so, Mateo mapped out every forking path diligently by the dim light of his torch._

 _"Come on Matty. Do you have to do that with every room?"_

 _"Of course! Greyson always says that it's important to know the landscape when you're planning an attack!"_

 _"But we're not attacking anyone."_

 _"Well, not now. But maybe one day we'll have to fight off bad guys in here and defend our treasure."_

 _"You think so?"_

 _"When people hear about the treasure, there's gonna be loads of bad guys who'll want to steal it."_

 _"Like Outsiders?"_

 _"Not just any Outsiders . . . Pirates!"  
"But we're not strong enough to fight against pirates."_

 _"Not yet. But that's why we've got to train hard!"_

 _"I wish I could train with_ you _. Greyson sounds like a much better teacher than the stupid soldier school Travis started. All the Tyke boys have to go . . . I hate it!"_

 _"But if you get real strong, then you won't have to go anymore!"_

 _"Still . . . I miss being able to explore the forest together. Now we have to keep it a secret, because if anyone found out I was playing with you, they'd all be mad."_

 _"But it's our secret! Something that no one else knows. Isn't that cool?"_

 _". . . Yeah! No one else knows about the Mountain's tunnels except for us."_

 _"Exactly! And when we find the treasure, maybe the Toms and the Tykes will stop fighting!"_

 _"Then we can train together!"_

 _"Yeah!"_

 _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

 _The scream ripped through the tunnels, bouncing off the walls and sending the boys' teeth rattling. They screamed as well and tried to block out the loud noise, covering their animalistic ears on their heads. After what felt like forever, the screams died down, leaving Mateo and Ryker with ringing ears._

 _"What was that?" Ryker asked with a shaky voice._

 _"So-someone's in trouble! Come on, we gotta help!"_

 _Mateo didn't stop to think about how someone other than them could have gotten into the tunnels, he just raced ahead with Ryker trying to keep up. A gust of wind ruffled their hair as the path finally leveled off and took a sharp turn to the right. They rounded the corner when the screaming started again, only louder this time._

 _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

 _The piercing noise stopped the boys dead in their tracks, but this time Ryker noticed something up ahead . . . and he started to laugh. The noise died sown again and Mateo heard Ryker still chuckling._

 _"What's so funny? We have to hurry and help that person!"_

 _"I'm laughing because there_ is _no person."_

 _"Then who was screaming?"_

 _"It was the wind. Look, there's a way outside." Sure enough, a trickle of light had filtered into the caves from a hole leading outside, leaving the damp atmosphere a little brighter. "The screaming was probably made when the wind blew past the hole," Ryker explained._

 _"Oh!" Mateo joined in the laughter. "That scared me!"_

 _"Me too," Ryker giggled back._

 _"Let's go see what it looks like outside!"_

 _Mateo dropped his torch and it fizzled out_ _ **,**_ _seeing no need for it since there was light just ahead._

 _"I wonder how high up we are," Ryker followed a few steps behind, letting his own torch fall to his side._

 _"We're probably right near the top!"_

 _Laughter bounced around the cavern walls as the boys ran toward the sunlight. But then there was a flicker of movement near the exit. It caught Ryker's eye and he slowed his pace as a looming shadow blocked off the light entirely._

 _It was at that moment that the wind decided to start screaming again, as if it was warning the boys all along of the dangers ahead._

 _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

 _Ryker and Mateo found themselves frozen in place as the Guardian towered before them. Then it roared so mightily that it overpowered the wind's screams. A roar that shook both boys to the core._

RUN! _Ryker's mouth formed the words, but they were drown out by the Guardian's roar and the wind's screams. Even though Ryker's words didn't reach him, Mateo spun with fear in his eyes and started running._

 _Ryker was a few feet in front of Mateo and the wind was still screaming, so maybe it was his senses that alerted him that something was wrong. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened as he watched Mateo trip and crash to the ground. The Guardian loomed over the young Tom, baring its sharp teeth. Mateo scrambled for anything around him, and his flailing hand managed to grasp the object that had tripped him; his torch. The Guardian's teeth descended on him and Mateo swung the torch, jabbing the still hot end right in the Guardian's eye._

 _The beast reared back, screaming and shaking his head, giving Mateo enough time to scramble to his feet. Ryker darted forward and helped to pull his friend along. But the Guardian was charging again._

 _The boys reached the sharp turn where the path started to descend again and they took off, not even slowing to make the turn. They were in such a frenzy that they had run for a good five minutes before they realized the Guardian was no longer chasing them._

 _. . ._

Since that day, they had sworn not to go back up the tunnel with the markings. They later realized that it was close to the Guardians' nesting grounds. But now that they were older, stronger, they finally decided that it was time and Mateo had put it off long enough. They set a date and three days ago Ryker failed to show up.

 _It's Ryker's own fault he's missing out._ Mateo tried to convince himself, even though he could still feel the stab of fear just remembering their last encounter all those years ago. But he wasn't going to let it stop him. He was stronger now. He excelled in his stealth training and could even fend off Greyson . . . most days.

From another crack in the wall, Mateo pulled out a fresh torch, pack of rations and his half-finished map from long ago and took off on his solo adventure. His pace slowed as he approached the tunnel with the markings and he stopped before it. The way was dark and a draft had his torch's flame flickering. He listened, trying to ignore his pounding heart . . . but he couldn't hear anything.

"Come on," Mateo whispered to himself.

Cautiously, he entered the forbidden tunnel. The path was just as it was long ago; twisting and steadily inclining. As he climbed up, he checked his map to make sure it was accurate, double checking all the empty rooms, as Greyson's words still lingered in his mind. _Know your terrain._ He no loner had any fantasies of treasure or somehow reuniting the Toms and Tykes under a banner of friendship. Those were child's dreams. The only reason he still explored the mountain with Ryker was to get away from the village. It was odd, Ryker is a Tyke but he seems to understand Mateo better than his own people could.

Then a sound ripped through the tunnels.

 _AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

The haunting screams of the wind didn't seem as loud as he remembered them to be. Perhaps it was because he was older and his child's memory had altered his perception of the event, or was it because he was stronger now and the wind no longer had to warn him away as it did before?

Mateo saw the sharp turn as the path leveled off. The opening was just around that corner, and so were the Guardians. His heart was beating frantically and he thought he could make out the roar of a Guardian through the wind's howl, but he couldn't be sure. It may have just been his mind playing tricks.

He snuffed out his torch and peeked around the darkened corner. He could make out the stream of sunlight, indicating where the caves opened up to the outside. He stayed there for a full minute, watching and listening for any signs of movement. He didn't even notice himself doing so anymore, his stealth training completely taking over.

It was when the wind started howling again, that he made his move. Concealed by the noise, Mateo raced down the path and right past the opening. He couldn't help himself slow down slightly and peer outside into the light, but he wasn't dump enough to stop and take in the view. He saw a flash of movement outside and upped his pace faster than ever. It was with shaking breath and a loudly beating heart that he slid to a stop after the path twisted yet again. His hands shook as he re-lit his torch, but he felt a giddy laugh bubble in his throat at his success, but it was short lived when he turned share the moment with Ryker, only to remember that he was alone. That hole seemed to open up in Mateo's gut again and he tried to shake it off.

"It's his own fault. He should show up when we make plans," Mateo mumble to himself. He pulled out his map and started forward again. This is where the real adventure starts. Here, in the tunnels that no one has set foot in in _years._ Probably since when their ancestors lived here. Even then, who knows who actually came this high up? Mateo held his torch aloft and set off with a purpose, but he soon found that this part of the Mountain wasn't like the rest.

The path twisted and turned, split off and joined back together, opened up into larger rooms and shrunk down till he was walking hunched over. It's like this part of the Mountain had its own set of rules that didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Mateo drew out another fork in the path then carved out a marking in the wall before continuing on. He already lost all sense of time, but he didn't care. In these caves, he was in his element.

Then something up ahead caught his eye in the dim torchlight and stopped him short. The caves up to this point had always seemed somewhat natural, with rough surfaces and uneven floors, but _that_ was definitely not natural. Mateo cocked his head as he ran a hand over the intricate carvings of the wooden door. Actually, now that he looked, the floor was smoother, so were the walls, as if they had been carved out by men.

He felt his excitement rise as he recalled the stories about how their ancestors used to live in these caves. He reached out and pushed open the door. With a squeal that was deafening in the silence, the door swung open and Mateo gasped.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Sanji, Robin/Luke, Chopper, Brook, Sarah (ASLEEP) ~_

The group of pirates sat with Arlo in his stone hut as he answered their questions.

"So the fires reset the island every year?" Chopper asked. "That would explain why there's no mushrooms decomposing the dead wood!"

"It also explains the name of the island," Robin muses. "Firannial. The island with Annual Fires."

"The smoke from the Great Fire makes up the storm clouds that then bring us snow," Arlo explained further. "As the snow sits on the earth, the ash is able to seep back into the earth, replenishing it with nutrients for the next year."

"That's so cool," Chopper squealed.

"But isn't that scary?" Brook asked. "Having to run from the fires every year?"

"Not really," Arlo responds. "We Tykes have our fishing boats. We stock them up good and stay at sea for about a week while the Great Fire spreads across the land. When the snow has finished falling, we return to our homes. Although I sometimes wonder how the Toms escape the Fire. They are not fond of water and never took up the art of ship building. As a result, they never go fishing either, other than what they can catch from shore."

"Oh, I get it," Chopper said. "Because they're cats, they don't like water."

"I suppose you're right," Arlo chuckled. "But I don't believe that you came all the way to this island just to hear about the ecology."

"That's right," Chopper said. "We came because we're trying to help Sarah and Luke get back home."

"Is that so? So you're just passing through then?"

"Not quite," Sanji said. "Apparently, her home isn't a place we can get to by ship. So we're looking for something that can help."

"Interesting," Arlo stroked his chin. "What is it you seek?"

"They're called the Shining Rocks," Chopper explained. "Sarah said that they can open portals that she can use to get home."

"Such a thing exists?"

"If Sarah says it does, than I believe her," Sanji declared.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I haven't heard of your Shining Rocks," Arlo said. "But perhaps you would have some luck with one of the other Tykes. Her name is Dell and she keeps a bar down by the docks. Hears all the rumours and can get all the older folk talking about the legends and stories of their travels. She's always been fascinated by old tales. And if I'm not mistaken, she keeps a book that she writes down all the tales she hears of. With all the sailors that pass through now-a-days, I imagine she's gathered quite a collection."

"That sounds fascinating," Robin awed.

"Sounds like our next stop," Sanji said.

"Ah, but won't we stand out?" Brook inquired. "After all, we don't have dog ears."

"You're one to talk!" Sanji snapped.

"Oh, believe me," Arlo said. "With the number of ships docking here, there's no shortage of outside folk, especially near the docks."

"Well that worked out well," Chopper said.

"You're still gonna stand out!" Sanji yelled.


	12. Chapter 11

***UPDATE*** May 31/17

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 _~Sanji, Robin/Luke, Chopper, Brook ~_

It was just a short walk through the empty crop fields before they entered the Tykes' town. On the outskirts were huts made of stone and mud, much like Arlo's was, but as they walked further into town, the buildings became more modern, made out of bricks and cement, taller and more sturdy looking. Finally, they reached the port.

The buildings fell away into a large open space, leaving room for carts and stands or even just peddlers laid out on a blanket, most selling freshly caught fish, but many others selling the recently harvested crops, heavy clothing and blankets for the coming winter and many other treasures and necessities.  
"Now _this_ is a market," Sanji whistled. "We should pull the Sunny around and re-stock the kitchen later. They've got some good stuff."

"Hey, look," Chopper pointed. "There's a stand selling medical herbs."

"And beautiful cloth as well," Robin smiled.

"I am glad you're impressed with what we have to offer," a man said, stepping up to them. He was a little on the chubby side, not all that tall and had a sort of devious look to him.

"Who are you?" Sanji asked bluntly.

"Me? Oh, I'm a simple merchant, just trying to be friendly. Please, feel free to browse, we have a lot to offer."

Robin examined him critically. "You speak like you're a native, but you are clearly not a Tyke," she pointed out his lack of ears.

"You're a sharp one," the man laughed. "My name is Trump and I work with Castiel's merchant company. We run this port."

"You mean it's not run by the locals?" Sanji asked.

"Oh no," Trump said. "It's because of the company president that business on this island is so good. He built this town practically from scratch. That is, with the co-operation of the Duke. We have built a strong economy together that sustains us both."

"This president guy sounds like someone important," Chopper said.

"Indeed, he does," Brook agreed.

Sanji stepped forward. "And what business does someone like you, who works for someone so important, have with humble travelers such as ourselves." The others giggled to themselves at his sarcasm.

"Well, I think we both know that you are not mere travelers," Trump's face spread into a devious smile. "You see, some of the soldiers reported that a small group of pirates managed to breach the wall. What's more is after they broke through the wall, you fought off the soldiers sent to investigate."

"Actually, that last part was more the old man," Sanji clarified. "The others just left after that."

"Regardless," Trump cleared his throat. "The company president has requested a meeting with you. I believe he has a business proposition."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sanji rejected outright. "We're not really into working for others."

"How unfortunate," Trump's smile seemed a little forced now. "Perhaps if you meet with him, he'll be able to change your mind?"

"Hey, Sanji," Chopper pulled on his pant leg. "This president guy is an important person, right?"

"I suppose," Sanji said slowly.

"Then that means he knows a lot of things. Do you think he'll know anything about the Shining Rocks?"

"Who knows. Something doesn't feel right about that guy. I mean, what kind of merchant company gets reports from the towns soldiers? What do you think, Robin my dear—"

"She left with Luke-san while ago," Brook said, pointing in the direction they had disappeared.

"Robin," Sanji fell to his knees.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Luffy ~_

Luffy clung to the side of the Mountain, stretching one arm over the other, rocketing up the cliff. The Slyr had quickly gotten dizzy being flung back and forth and had migrated from Luffy's arm to around his neck. It now nuzzled his check, tickling his nose with its bunny ears.

"Heh heeh, that tickles," Luffy bumps the creature. "Hey, there's a ledge up there! I wonder how it looks from up there."

One more rocket and Luffy was standing on the ledge with one fist on his hip and the other hand shielding his eyes from the sun. He looked out over the island and whistled. It was early a perfect circle and from here he could see it all. The Mountain was located at one end of the island with a large river stretching from the Mountain to the sea, splitting the island in half. From here he could see the farmlands that the Toms had worked so hard to cultivate and their little village. But on the other side of the island he could see a really tall wall. Beyond the wall, he could see the port town.

"Hey look," Luffy said to the Slyr. "I can see the Sunny from here!" He pointed out toward to ocean with a big smile and waved even though clearly no one would see.

As he was waving, a shadow loomed behind him. Luffy twisted his head around and found himself face to face with a ten foot tall monster that looked like a furry lizard. The monster roared at him, a sound that shook the mountain and sent a small rock fall sliding down the edge. Then the monster snapped at Luffy, it's giant, powerful jaws baring down at him.

"Woah," Luffy bounced out of the way. "Watch it!"

The monster roared again, a call that alerted other monsters. Soon there were a total of five Guardians surrounding him. Luffy frowned at them and cracked his knuckles.

"Bring it on."

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Sanji, Brook, Chopper ~_

The man named Trump led them through the city, past tall buildings and stone streets bustling with life. They past the pier and made their way to the biggest building in the city. The building sported a large sun logo and had the words 'Merchant Company' printed on the front. Trump led Sanji, Brook and Chopper through the main lobby where a woman, a _human_ woman, smiled and welcomed him back. Trump waved back and guided the pirates into an elevator.

"Here at the Merchant Company we strive to expand our services until we have ships sailing all over the Grand Line," Trump explained.

"Fascinating," Sanji rolled his eyes.

"That is but an extreme goal that will take many years to accomplish," Trump continued as if he was never interrupted. "As of yet we are trading with only a few dozen islands, but with our recent advances we will be expanding much farther very soon." The elevator opened to the top floor and they stepped out. "But, I should let the president explain all this."

At this, he flourished open the grand door with a gold plated name tag. The room had big windows overlooking the port and the ocean, various cabinets lined the walls and a large wooden desk occupied the far wall. Sitting at the desk was an unimpressive man, on the smaller side, lanky with short blond hair and face that seemed to change depending on what kind of person stood in front of him.

"Welcome, welcome," the man behind the desk smiled endearingly. "My name is Castiel. I do hope you found your way here well enough?"

"I suppose," Sanji said carefully. He inspected this man, instantly not liking the feeling he got from him.

Trump saddled up beside the man behind the desk and Castiel spoke again. "Please, take a seat."

"If you insist," Brook said, starting to pull out a chair.

"Actually," Sanji interrupted, "we won't be staying that long." Brook straitened up, looking a little dejected. Chopper looked on curiously.

"Oh? But I have quite a bit to say."

"They say it and get on with it."

"You see," Castiel said, his eye twitching minutely. "I run a merchant company and own a number of vessels, but as you know the seas of the Grand Line are treacherous and those who sail them are even more so."

"So what exactly do you want with us?" Sanji asked, trying to hurry things up. Another minute spent in this dump was another minute apart from dear Robin. . .

"All I ask is that you deliver a shipment for me. It is of high value and would require a highly skilled escort in both navigation and fighting power. You have already demonstrated your prowess by breaching the wall outside the town and dealing with the soldiers. All I ask is that you accept this small job. I assure you, you will be paid fairly for your work."

"As much as I would love to continue this discussion," Sanji said, deadpan. "I'm not the captain. I don't make these decisions."

"Then I would very much like to make my offer directly to your captain. Where could I find him?"

"Who knows," Sanji sighed. "Could be anywhere by now."

Castiel's eye twitched again. "Then perhaps you could convey my offer to him yourself?"

"I'll be sure to let him know," Sanji turned to leave, beckoning the others with him. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have our own business to attend to."

"If there's anything you need help with," Castiel called out. "Fell free to ask."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sanji said without turning around. "We don't need to owe you any favours."

The door clicked shut behind them and Castiel's smiled burned away to a sneer. "He's a sharp one. I don't like the way he was looking at me."

"What do you mean?" Trump asked.

"Like he could see right through me," Castiel mulled it over. "Have some men tail them. I don't want them snooping around too much. And see if you can't track down the captain."

"If I may, sir," Tramp said. "Why are you so interested in _these_ pirates? Aren't the mercenaries you've already hired strong enough for the job?"

"This one is too big to be left to them," Castiel said, leaning back in his chair. "They are strong, yes, but if something goes wrong with _this_ job, we'll lose an enormous profit."

"I understand," Trump bowed and left to convey the orders.

The door clicked shut and Castiel opened one of his desk's drawers and pulling out a pile of pages. After flipping through the stack of wanted posters, he picked out nine of them and laid them out on the desk, with the captain of the group grinning up at him in the middle.

". . . the Stawhat Pirates, eh?"

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Sarah, Arlo ~_

Back in the hut on the outskirts of the town, Sarah opened her eyes. She breathed in a deep breath, smelling the scent of fresh ground leaves and cut wood. She relaxed and lay quietly for a moment, just taking a second to revel in the moment.

"You are awake, young lady?" the old man asked, noticing her open eyes. Sarah started at the man, noticing his strange ears then remembers snippets of what had happened.

"I was sick. . ." Sarah sat up in bed. She cringed at the soreness in her legs as residual pain flared up. "You were the one who helped me."

"It'll take a few more hours before the effects of the infection wear off," he said. "But the bacteria should be out of your system by now."

"That's good to hear," Sarah sighed and leaned against the back board. "Where are the others I was with?"

"They went into town," the old man said, turning his back to work at his medicines. "They said you all were looking for something. So I told them about a woman in town who might be able to help. They didn't want to leave you alone here, especially that little doctor, but I assured them that you would be alright for a few hours. I didn't think you would be waking up this fast."

"Guess I've built up a tolerance for infections," Sarah confessed.

"What a lively girl," the man smiled. "You may call me Arlo."

"I'm Sarah, and this little one's . . ." Sarah petered off as she realized that, once again, she was waking up without the presence of a small child beside her.

Arlo seemed to sense her rising panic. "Your friends took that child into town with them. He was getting a little restless and I thought it would be best to let him out for a bit."

"I suppose," Sarah conceded. She knew that she could trust Luffy's friends with Luke, but it didn't make the apprehension fade in the least.

"In any case, they shouldn't be too long I imagine, unless they manage to find some trouble."

"Knowing them, it's a high possibility."

"Try to get some more rest," Arlo urged, gently guiding her back down onto the bed. "You'll still feel the effects of the _Trixadechia_ bacteria for awhile still. Best to sleep it off."

Arlo shut the bedroom door, leaving Sarah in silence. She shut her eyes and tried to let her mind drift off into sleep. Instead, it drifted to the past.

 _"Why are you crying?" a young boy asked her._

 _"I'm_ not _crying!" she replied stubbornly._

 _"Oh . . ."_

 _" . . . I'm no good for anything. I can't do anything by myself. I can't even find my friend. She said we'd be friends and go on adventures together, but she's gone and I'm alone . . . *sniff* . . . Why did she leave? Doesn't she want to be my friend anymore?"_

 _"Then how about I help you look for her? . . . I'm Simon."_

 _". . . Sarah. Thanks for helping me."_

What a distant memory. . . she hadn't thought about that day in a long time. Why now? She felt a pang in her heart. It's been so long since she saw any of them . . . but they chose their path and she chose her own. Doesn't mean she doesn't still miss them.

Sarah opened her eyes again, realizing that there was no way she was going to sleep now. She sat up, and again felt the stiff pain in her legs as she swung them off the bed. She flexed her bare toes, trying to work out the cobwebs and gain proper control. After a moment, she slipped back into her boots and stood up. She braced herself on the wall and made her way to the door. It opened silently to her push and she shuffled out of the room.

"Seems like things are going to get lively soon."

 _That's Arlo's voice, but who's he talking to?_ Sarah found the old man standing alone by the open window. Her head tilted in confusion.

"And I haven't seen Ryker in a few days. Normally I wouldn't worry, but with the Great Fire drawing near . . ."

There was a small _tweet_ and Sarah saw a brown sparrow fly away form the window sill. Arlo watched it leave and turned to see what had disturbed it.

"Talking to birds now?" Sarah asked.

Arlo inspected her a moment with a questioning eye before responding. ". . . Sometimes they're the only ones who'll listen. Now what are you doing up and about?"

"Couldn't sleep. Thought maybe you could help me relieve some of my curiosity."

"First things first, sit down before gravity does it for you. You may think you're strong enough, but I can assure you that your legs think otherwise."

"Fair enough," Sarah dropped into the closest chair, a comfortable sofa with a beautiful blanket. Arlo sat himself down in a well worn, wooden rocking chair, but Sarah was still staring at the blanket.

"This is beautiful," she said pulling it onto her lap and stroking the precisely weaved fabric.

The old man glanced at her and chuckled. "I would hope so. You won't find better quality on _this_ side of the island."

"This side?"

"That there was made by the Toms. They're genius craftsmen, can make just about anything. You just can't get those sorts of things on this side of the island anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because of the wall."

"Wall?"

"Didn't you see it when you came here?"

"I don't know," Sarah tried to think back. "I was pretty out of it at the time."

"I suppose you were," the old man smiled. "Well, there is now a great wall that surrounds the Tyke's territory. Its construction was the main factor in stopping the conflict between the Tykes and the Toms."

"There was a conflict? What happened?"

"That, my dear girl, is a long story without a happy ending," he sighed sadly. "We were trying to bring our people together, but instead we drove them farther apart than ever. They started attacking each other, and the hatred between our people grew with each raid. In the end, if it wasn't for the Outsiders washing up on our shores, if it wasn't for the wall they built to keep our people separate . . . Who knows? Perhaps we'd still be fighting to this day."

Sarah listened to the story that he told with such regret and sorrow while her fingers continued to trace the pattern of the blanket.

"I used to be the Duke of the Tykes," Arlo admitted. "They all put their trust in me, and I let them down. After that, they all chose to follow Noh. Ever since then I lived here, away from the rest of the villagers, lending my aid when they are hurt or need medical attention. There's little else I can do for them at his point."

"Seems like you care for them a lot," Sarah said. "And they just tossed you aside?"

"Our humble village has changed a lot in the time since I stepped down," Arlo sighed. "Perhaps for the better. It has grown from a small group of huts into a full town. Our fishing industry has gone from simply sustaining our population to an entire business with a port and a market, and now many other ships bring goods to this island in hopes of trading and selling their wares. Even a few tourists have found their way to our humble island. Now most days, there are more outsiders than Tykes walking our streets."

"When you put it that way, it certainly sounds like this Noh character has changed the town for the better," Sarah said.

"On the surface, yes. But don't be fooled. Noh has had no part in the town's changes. That would all be thanks to Castiel and his crew."

"Castiel?"

"He's the president of a merchant company and has made Firannial it's base. He's also same the Outsider that washed up on the south side of the island five years ago. It was his right-hand man who raised the wall that divides this island . . . Castiel is also the one who caused the Toms such heartache. It kills me every time that I was unable to stop it all from happening."

"What exactly happened? What caused all the hatred between the Toms and the Tykes in the first place? What is this great tragedy you keep skirting around?"

"That is a long story that goes back a long time."

"I'm not going anywhere," Sarah smiled. "I haven't been discharged yet."

"I suppose not," Arlo conceded and rose from his chair." This is a story best told with tea." He filled a pot and set it to boil. "Much of this island's origin has been lost in time," he started, taking out a pair of clay mugs. "According to some legends that managed to survive, our ancestors used to live in caves carved out of the Shining Mountain. There's even mention of a cathedral near the summit. But at some point, they left the Mountain and began their lives in the sunlight. The Toms and the Tykes took up separate sides of the Mountains and for a long time, there was no contact between them. Other than a few rare run ins here and there, we would keep to ourselves and there was peace. But that all changed five years ago. . ."

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Mateo ~_

 _He reached out and pushed open the door. With a squeal that was deafening in the silence of the caverns, the door swung open and Mateo gasped._

Before him was a giant chamber carved right out of the mountain. Intricate patterns and carvings painted elaborate pictures on the walls and an alter was positioned at the far side, with rows of pews lined up before it. There was even a giant chandelier that hung above, with candles waiting to light up the sacred space.

But even though the grand chandelier was unlit, copious amounts of light flooded in from the giant stained glass window carved right out of the Mountain side. Light flooded into the cathedral in reds, blues and greens, from the mosaic and Mateo let his insignificant torch light go out.

"Dear mother of all that is sweet," Mateo breathed as he took it all in. "Ryker, bro, you're missing out on something seriously huge."  
He suddenly felt very out of place, like he was intruding on something sacred. It was this same feeling that had him ducking behind the pews when he heard footsteps. But then he felt silly. No one ever came into these tunnels except him and Ryker.

 _Idiot finally decided to show up,_ Mateo thought and almost stood up, but the unfamiliar, booming voice had his blood running cold.

"Why do we 'af to come all the way up 'ere for some brat?"

"Wouldn't do us any good if the kid just keeled over, now would it?"

"All I'm saying is that it's a pain to hike up 'ere all da time. Why don't we just keep 'im in the town? Easier dat way, ain't it?"

"You idiot! If we keep 'im in the town, den people might find 'im."

"Oh . . . right."

"Das why _I'm_ da smart one."

The two meat heads passed by Mateo's hiding place and continued down a hallway on the other side of the room. Mateo couldn't move, he was too shocked. Someone else was in the tunnels? But who were they? They didn't bare Tom nor Tyke sign, so more Outsiders? No, that's not it. Seems like they've been here awhile. Then are they Castiel's men? That would explain it. But what are they doing in the Mountain? And so high up too? Sounded like they were keeping someone up here . . . but who?

Mateo peaked over the pew as the men entered one of the rooms. He waited, and a few minutes later they came back out, roaring with laughter that sent chills down Mateo's spine. It wasn't a very nice laughter.

"Ya know," one meat heads said. "Maybe it was worth coming all da way up 'ere after all."

"Ya see? I told you."

They left as abruptly as they'd come, with the door creaking shut behind them. Mateo sat frozen, hidden behind the pews, until their voices had long since died out. It was only with shaking steps that he stood up, the grand, empty room didn't feel so magnificent any more. His ears pricked up on his head, listening carefully for any sound. He picked up snippets as the strange men got farther away, and eventually made his way down the hall and stopped in front of the room the men had entered.

He listened again and thought he could hear shuffling from within. He pressed a hand against the door and it swung open easily. The room was dark and relatively empty. The only thing of interest was a large cage with a sole form huddled in the corner, and dripping wet. An empty bucket lay not too far away.

The form in the cage flinched as the door opened and his face whipped up with an expression of defiance. It was an expression that Mateo knew well and he felt himself go weak as he called out the name of his friend.

"Ryker?"


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I know, I'm late with the updates, but there's a reason for that. Truth is, I had a mini freak out because I feel like I was completely botching this arch. So, I updated all chapters starting at 9. Not much has changed, it's mostly the order in which things are told but I have included a few new things. I also took out the backstory because the main reason I re-did these chapters is because I think I was introducing it too soon. So if you're reading this chapter first, then you may be confused.

 ****IMPORTANT**** If you just skipped over that overly long blurb above, then know that I re-did some things. I recommend. If you want to see all my changes, they start at chap 9, but you may as well start at chap 8 when they first arrive at Firannial. If you don't want to re-read the whole thing, then starting about halfway through chap 11 is where the changes start to matter.

**If you're reading this after May 31/17. . . carry on**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 _~ Dell's Bar ~_

"Hee-ya! Hey, lady! Another round over here!" Called out one of the sailors. A rowdy bunch, the lot of them. Most of the sailors were lively, but these three were especially bad. They were mercenaries from one of Castiel's merchant ships. They'll stop by Firannial once every week or so and cause a commotion. One time it got so bad that Dell had to call the soldiers to stop them. Lot of good that did. Turns out that those who sail the seas of the Grand Line are noting to laugh at, even when sopping drunk. The soldiers didn't stand a chance. Luckily, they left after that, do doubt to terrorize some other part of the town.

Dell poured the round and set it on a tray and one of her servers whisked it away to the table of rambunctious men.

"Seems lively," said the dark-haired woman sitting at the bar. She held a child on her lap with hair as dark as her own. The little fella was playing with a little wooden rattle, tapping it against the counter and touching a little puddle of water.

"Well, they haven't caused any trouble," Dell sighed. " _Yet_. Then again, the suns still up."  
"Are they sailors?"

"Mercenaries. They're the crew of one of Castiel's merchant ships. They're in port every other week or so before heading back out."

"Sounds like business is good then," the dark-haired lady said.

"Wouldn't know," Dell half-smiled. "I only fill mugs. But you're a new face. Don't think I saw any new ships come in today though."

"We took the scenic route."

"Oh? And the little guy?"

"Looking after him for a friend."

"Strange place to bring a kid."

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't come here for the alcohol."

"Hmm," Dell inspected the woman. "Seeing as how it's hard to pick up a good man while babysitting, I guess that means you're looking for information."

"I heard that you keep an extensive collection of stories."

"Then you've been talking to Arlo. Good man, pitty what happened."

"What do you mean?" Robin frowned.

"Ya didn't know? He used to be the Duke of this town, back when it was just a couple of huts along the shore," Dell said, reaching underneath the counter. "But there was a bunch of bad stuff that went down a couple years back. People decided they'd rather have that ninny Noh run things instead. But if you ask me, Castiel's the only one in charge of things around here."

"The merchant?"

"One and only. Some will praise him as the hero who stopped the fighting between the Tykes and the Toms. Honestly, I would have preferred it if we had become friends. Guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"Sounds like quite a story on its own."

"It's one that most would rather forget. But isn't that why people come around to bars? To forget?"

"Who knows."

"In any case," Dell set a book on the counter that she had pulled from under the bar. "I don't show this to just anybody, but if you've been talking with ol' Arlo, then I suppose you're good in my books. This is all that I've learned since opening my bar here."

"You've gathered quite the collection," Robin awed.

"Lots of folk pass through these days. Lost of people means lots of stories. Anything you lookin' for in particular?"

"Actually, my friends and I came to this island looking for something, but the longer we're here, the more I think we got it wrong."

"What cha' lookin' for?"

"A type of stone referred to as the Shining Rocks. We thought it might have some connection to the Shining Mountain, but it seems like no one around here knows for sure what's at the top of the Mountain."

"That's for sure," Dell nodded. "But I think I've heard of your stones." She opened the book and started flipping through the pages, stopping not too far into it. "That's right, it _was_ him." She turned the book to face Robin. "It was actually Castiel's right-hand man who told me this one, it was right after I opened up. He got real drunk that night, probably celebrating taking over the town. He made me promise not to tell anyone, but honestly, it sounds like a bunch of nonsense. But then again, who knows what secrets this world holds."

With that, Dell left the dark-haired woman to her book. The kid had curled up against her chest, his eyes drifting closed, his rattle sat silently on the counter.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Franky ~_ **  
**The remaining members of the Mountain Exploration Team gathered outside near the Toms farmlands, watching as they spread dead plant life on the grounds in hope that the Fire will bring life to their soils once again, and they debated on their next move.

"Now that we've learned a little more about this island, we need to decide what we're going to do next," Nami led.

"What do you mean?" Zoro asked, propped against a bare tree. "We go up the Mountain."

"Hold on right there," Usopp help up a hand. "Did the mention of flesh eating _monsters_ escape your tiny memory?"

"Who cares," Zoro sighed. "So there's gonna be a fight, big deal. Not like anyone thought this was going to be easy."

"It's nice to dream sometimes," Usopp pouted.

"As much as I'd like to agree with Usopp on this one," Nami said. "I don't think we should stick around in this village too long."

"What? Why not?" Usopp asked, confused. "The people seem nice enough."

"Are you just dense?" Zoro said. "Haven't you noticed the looks we've been getting?"

"Now that you mention it," Franky said, looking around at passing Toms. "They've all been giving us a wide birth. Like they're being overly cautious."

"Not just cautious," Zoro said. "It's like they're scared of us. Scared of Outsiders."

"Whatever happened before must have really put them on edge," Franky said, watching as a child pointed to them and asked his mother something, only to have to mother look at them wearily before pulling the child inside one of the huts.

"Exactly," Nami announced. "So our only real option now is to see if we can't find the Shining Rocks at the top of the Shining Mountain."

"But what about the Great Fire, or whatever," Usopp pointed out. "Shouldn't we wait until after it's over?"

"Seeing as how Luffy's probably almost to the top of the Mountain right now and the other half of our crew is on the other side of the island, we can't just pack up and leave," Nami said. "That being said, we should probably make contact with the others and share what we've learned. They've probably found the other village by now."

"Ow! Leave it to me," Franky gave her a thumbs up. "I kinda wanted to take the Sunny to the port anyway. I'll meet up with the others and let 'em know."

"Great. Meanwhile, the rest of us will try and find our captain."

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Robin/Luke ~_

 _Amazing_ , Robin thought as she closed Dell's book. It had confirmed her theories and given clues to the whereabouts of the true island that holds Shining Rocks. It all makes sense, the rituals the stones are used for, the riddle pointing to the island, the secretive nature of it all, even the old woman's warning from the library. The only thing she couldn't understand is why that man would know all of this. But that mystery could wait. For now, she should return to Arlo's hut and relay to the others what she's found.

Luke had curled up comfortably against her and was fast asleep. Even the loud racket of the bar wouldn't wake him, much like someone else she knew . . .

She was about to leave when a new man entered the bar. He stood tall and had a long face framed with red pointy hair that spiked out over his head. He spotted the group of rowdy mercenaries and scoffed. "Are you guys _still_ drinking?"

"Lighten up, Hort," said the one with two horn sticking out of his head and red lines running across his scalp to go with his over sized muscles and lack of shirt. "This is a night of celebration! One more run and we'll be rolling in it."

"We still have work to do in the morning," the spiky haired guy scolded. "And you're all going to be hung over. Don't come crying to me when with your headaches and nausea."

"Be patient, Hort," said the one with a hood and cloak covering him in shadows so deep you couldn't see any part of him, save for his sharp nose. "We know how to hold our liquor."

"Well, we might," the last one said. This one looked more timid, with plain hair falling to his jawline and pointed teeth peeking over his bottom lip. "But Lan doesn't."

"Tenko! Skukuré! I thought you were on my side!" the horned man, Lan, accused.

"I just work with you," the hooded man said. "Doesn't mean I like you."

"Screw you, too, Tenko."

"Looks like the grunts are gonna be guarding the shipment tonight," Hort said, his spiky hair bristling.

"If you're so worried about it, why don't _you_ guard it?" Lan mocked.

"Because I have better things to do," Hort said. "Things that don't involve getting plastered to the point where walking isn't an option anymore."

"Whatever," Lan turned back to his mug, finding it empty. "Hey lady! Another one!"

"Imbecile," Hort rolled his eyes.

"Why are you so worried?" Tenko asked. "This shipment is just like any other."

"Yeah, it's not like these weak dog-people can do anything about it," Skukuré added.

"You didn't hear? Apparently, some pirates managed to break through Trump's wall."

"No way," Skukuré awed.

"Then there's the Navy," Hort lowered his voice. "I heard they're in the area. It seems to be happening a little too often for my tastes. I got the feeling this whole operation is about to be found out."

"Regardless, it's not like they're here right now," Tenko cradled his own mug. "I see no reason why any of us should have to spend the night in the cold, guarding a shipment we won't even have for more than a week. This is the last one, right? Then we move up to the higher tiered merchandise."

"I just got a bad feeling about all this," Hort muttered.

"You get a bad feeling about everything," Lan slurred, smashing his empty mug on the table. "Hey! My mug's still empty!"

The serving girl scuttled over and slipped a new mug on the table. From behind the bar, Dell shook her head disapprovingly. "And another mug bites the dust." She turned back to Robin, noticing that she had finished with the book. "Find what you were looking for?"

"I did, thank you," Robin smiled to her and turned her head to look at the sailors. "Do you know anything about what they're shipping?"

"The merchandise?"

"Yeah."

Dell glanced over to the men drinking, then glanced around to see if anyone was paying them any heed. It was late enough that everyone seemed lost in their booze, so she leaned in and lowered her voice. "To be perfectly honest, I don't want to know. If anyone asks, I say it's whatever crap the Tkyes fish out of the ocean. But I've had a feeling that there's a dark side to Castiel's entire operation. But I value my place in this town, so I sure as hell ain't poking my nose where it don't belong."

"Thanks," Robin said and slipped a bill on the counter. "It's been real."

"Hold on a minute," Dell said. Robin stopped and turned back to the barkeep. "You got any good stories for me?"

Robin smiled and laughed. "Maybe another time."

"I'll hold you to that."

Robin slips out of the bar and into the cool night air, with Luke tucked snuggly in her arms. The child stirred in his sleep at the change in temperature and his rattle tinkled in his hands. The four mercenaries were still bickering between themselves, the one with the horns had all but passed out while the one with red spiky hair seemed to complain about everything. Needless to say, with them occupied, their precious cargo was unguarded.

Robin fastened Luke to her back, much like Sarah had done with her sling, while the child still slept. He stirred a bit as he was moved, but settled back quickly with his head resting on her shoulder.

It wasn't a long walk before Robin was standing in front of the docks. There was a shack where sailors would pay tolls and merchant fees with a candle lit in the window. But a quick peek by growing an eye on the wall confirmed that the sole occupant was fast asleep. There was an open book on the desk that kept a log of all the ships and their cargo, and it wasn't hard to find out which ship belonged to the men from the bar. Luck seemed to have it that it was the largest ship at port and it wasn't hard to find, seeing as how there were so few other ships in the first place, most of which were humble fishing boats.

Robin spread out her senses, growing eyes and ears throughout the mercenaries' ship. There were a few members of the crew that were still awake at this hour: a pair camped out in the crow's nest, sharing a bottle and watching the stars. There was a dice game going on in the crew's quarters, although one of them might have been cheating. And there were three others posted within the cargo bay, easy enough to skirt around. Even easier to take out. But she was going for stealth here. Best not to cause a scene.

There was no one on the deck, so she snuck into the belly of the ship with no problems. There was a scuffle as she passed the crew's quarters, apparently the others noticed the cheater, and she was huddled in the shadows of the cargo hold within minutes. By that time, the number of guards had been reduced to two and they were occupied with some sort of reports, using a crate as a table and a couple of wooden stools as chairs.

Robin took the opportunity and slunk between the rows of cargo and was out of sight of the guards.

The light was dim, but what she found puzzled her. She inspected the warning label on the crate: _Biohazard_. Spelled in big red letters. What sort of biohazardous material could they be shipping? And what does it have to do with illegal trading?

She glanced over her shoulder at the men still occupied with their reports. Then she dug her fingertips under the crate's lid and silently opened it. The contents seemed to glow in the dark and Robin felt her blood run cold when she saw what they were shipping.

 _He can't be planning on. . ._ She silently replaced the lid, her heart thumping loudly. If this got out, many people would die. It's the perfect weapon of war, and she'd know. After all, she'd worked with many people in the past who would love to have gotten their hands on something like this.

 _If_ this _was here, what other cargo is this ship carrying?_

"Mum mua, boo ta!" a small voice answered her unspoken question. The babbling broke the silence and drew the guards' full attention. Robin looked over her shoulder and saw that Luke was awake and playing with her hair. He shoved a handful in his mouth and smiled big and brightly up at her. She was torn between the adorableness of it, the annoyance that they'd been found, and the fact that she'd be washing baby drool out of her hair when they finally got back to the Sunny.

The guards drew their swords and rounded the corner where the babbling had come from . . . and were confused. Sitting on the floor was a child, no more than a year old, playing with a little wooden rattle. No one else was around. The child babbled some more and shook his rattle at them. They lowered their swords and exchanged confused looks. Suddenly, their faces rammed together and they were out cold. Robin smirked and emerged from her hiding place, collected Luke and promptly left the ship.

She had seen enough, now it was time to report everything to the others.

 **Oo-oO**

 _~ Meanwhile ~_

The third guard that was on watch came out of the bathroom and caught a glimpse of a woman with black hair rounding a corner. He blinked and when he looked again, she was gone. He must have imagined it. He shook out the cobwebs of fatigue and returned to the cargo hold. He stopped dead when he saw his comrades out cold on the ground.

"What happened?!" he exclaimed and started shaking them.

After a moment, one of them opened their eyes a fraction and managed to mutter, "Little baby . . . Rattle . . . Pretty arms." Then promptly passed out.

"Not good!" The guard sounded the bell and soon the entire ship was awake and looking for the intruder, a monster baby with a rattle and pretty arms? They didn't have much more to go on.

It was the same guard that discovered his comrades who ended up reporting directly to Castiel.

"Sir, there's been a break-in," he said, after arriving in Castiel's office.

"What!?" Castiel raged.

"They somehow managed to sneak into the cargo hold and knock out the guards."

"Well, who was it?!"

"We're not sure, sir. The only thing the others remember seeing is a baby, then nothing."

"What about the merchandise?"

"Nothing appears to be missing, but one of the crates marked as _Biohazard_ had been opened."

"Just what I need, and we were almost done here, too." Castiel fumed.

"What should we do?" Trump asked, from Castiel's side.

"First pirates, now _this_ ," Castiel scattered the Straw-Hat's wanted posters. "Just when I thought things were going too smoothly.

The guard looked down at the posters and recognized one. "Hey, I saw this woman," he picked up Nico Robin's 'Wanted' poster. "It's her, I'm sure of it. She's the one I saw on the ship!"

"Then why didn't you SAY SO SOONER!?" Castiel shouted at the man.

"We-well, it was so fast, I thought I'd just imagined it, but-but it was really her! I swear!"

"So the Straw-Hats are interfering with me, are they?" Castiel plotted, swiveling in his chair. "Looks like I'll have to get things done sooner than I'd planned to. Trump, prepare to initiate the final stage. I want it done tomorrow. By nightfall, we'll be sailing away from this wretched island and all of it's problems."

"Tomorrow? But sir, I thought we'd agreed to do it after the Fire."

"There's no time anymore," Castiel waved him off. "With these pirates now messing with everything, we can't take the chance of them finding anything out. I'm sure you've heard the rumours of the infamous Monkey D. Luffy. He's a menace, ruining everything he touches. No one's been able to stop his rampage, not the Navy, not the Seven Warlords, not even a Buster Call and CP9 was enough. The man's a monster that shouldn't be messed with. Besides, without the Mountain's secret, there will be no fire."

"Of course," Trump agreed. "I'll begin preparations. But I warn you sir, it will be dangerous. As the leaves continue to fall from the Watching Tree, it will continue to get hotter at the Mountain's summit."

"Whatever it takes, Trump," Castiel tapped his fingertips together. "Whatever it takes. And be sure to summon the Shinks. We'll need their strength if we wish to slow down the pirates."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright, I've got my crap sorted out and things are starting to heat up. Leave a review and tell me what you think is gonna happen.


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